Dodgers keep Shohei Ohtani on the mound while knee and blister concerns linger

Shohei Ohtani entered a Dodgers start against the Tampa Bay Rays with concerns about a balky left knee, and he carried those concerns into another up-and-down outing. According to CBS Sports, Los Angeles also dealt with a separate issue during his outing: a blister on his pitching hand that added to the uncertainty around how stable his mechanics and command might feel in the short term.

The broader performance context has been just as notable as the medical one. CBS Sports reported that Ohtani has allowed seven earned runs over his last two starts, a stretch that has driven his ERA to nearly double. That kind of offensive production from opponents is the sort of dip a team can absorb from its staff ace, but it also raises immediate questions about whether any physical discomfort is affecting pitch selection, velocity, or effectiveness.

Despite the red flags, the Dodgers downplayed the seriousness of the knee problem and the blister issue. The distinction matters because it suggests a team plan built around continued participation rather than an immediate pause, even if day-to-day monitoring will intensify. In MLB, clubs often treat minor stiffness or surface ailments differently depending on whether they threaten to worsen during bullpen work, long toss, or the next scheduled start.

From the Rays’ perspective, the situation created a tactical challenge. Pitching-hand blisters can be disruptive because grip and release points are tied closely to the condition of the ball-hand and the skin surface. Likewise, a knee that is “balky” can alter stride length and lower-body timing, even when a pitcher tries to compensate with upper-body adjustments.

There is also a practical baseball calendar angle to keep in mind. When a high-volume starter’s workload is tied to the rhythm of a rotation, any lingering issue can force smaller tactical choices, such as how the team limits the starter’s pitch count or how aggressively it plans to push him into later innings. CBS Sports framed this as concern rather than a confirmed shutdown, which implies Los Angeles is still deciding how to balance risk management with the need for innings.

For the Dodgers, the immediate watch item is whether Ohtani’s next appearance looks more like a return toward baseline command or another repeat of the recent run of earned runs. For MLB observers, the key question is how the blister and the left-knee discomfort respond under the normal cycle of pitching preparation, not only during games but also between starts.

If the Dodgers’ downplay holds, the situation may become more about short-term effectiveness than a longer-term absence. If the knee or blister worsens, however, the organization could be forced into more dramatic rotation adjustments, with ripple effects for leverage patterns in the bullpen and the order of starts that follow.

Until there is more formal confirmation from the team, the safest interpretation is that this is an active management situation: Ohtani is pitching through discomfort, and the Dodgers are trying to keep that discomfort from becoming a multi-start problem.