Shohei Ohtani took a day off from hitting Thursday so he could focus on his start, leaving the Dodgers without their designated hitter for the fourth time this season as they prepared to face Robbie Ray. The move came one night after Ohtani homered in a 4-0 win over the San Francisco Giants, a game that helped steady a club coming off back-to-back losses to the Braves by a 7-2 count.
The Dodgers' offense has not looked the same in the three previous games when Ohtani sat out of the lineup, and in the two most recent ones they scored one run in each. Dalton Rushing stepped in as the designated hitter the other three times Ohtani took a seat, all three against left-handers, while Miguel Rojas was likely to start over Hyeseong Kim in the infield.
Ray was facing the Dodgers for the first time this season after missing the earlier series at Oracle Park. That matters because the left-hander's last two starts of his 2025 campaign came against Los Angeles, and he allowed a combined 10 runs in back-to-back losses. For the Giants, he has been one of the few bright spots in what has otherwise been a melancholic season, and the timing of this rematch gives him a chance to erase an ugly memory from September of last year.
The matchup also carried a different feel for Los Angeles after Wednesday's shutout at Dodger Stadium and the return of Mookie Betts to the lineup after five weeks on the injured list. Ohtani's choice to prioritize the mound over the bat left the Dodgers leaning on the rest of the order again, even as the club tried to regain rhythm after the loss to Atlanta and a series that exposed how thin the margin can be when the lineup is missing one of its most dangerous hitters.
The Dodgers have already seen how quickly a game can tilt when the offense stalls without Ohtani. Ray has already seen what happens when the Dodgers put pressure on him. Thursday's start was set to test both of those truths at once.
