Shohei Ohtani has been doing what he normally does — making more history! He etched his name in the book of baseball greats during the Los Angeles Dodgers vs the Tampa Bay Rays. Ohtani hit a walk-off grand slam and became the sixth player in the sport’s history to join the 40-40. But he didn’t stop there; the next day, he topped that record with another home run, making a whooping 41 runs. So, all the talks about Ohtani eyeing the 50-50 this season might indeed manifest itself as true! 

Then, on Sunday, the Dodgers kept their exceptional gameplay and ended the game with the Tampa Ray Rays again at 3-1. But while the victory is surely sweet, it came with a jump scare that left Dodgers fans with sweaty palms and racy hearts. Ohtani, the unstoppable record-breaker, nearly faced a serious injury that left everyone on edge.

Ohtani takes a painful hit to the hand!

During the eighth inning of the game, Shohei Ohtani was facing Richard Lovelady and was hit by a pitch after going 2-0. At that moment, everything was silent for a while, and we saw Ohtani holding out his left hand and wrist in pain. Clearly, he hurt his hand badly, but what happened next will make everyone respect him even more!

Even though Ohtani was in pain, he took little time and he indicated to the team that he was good at going ahead with the game. So, he stayed back, and the Dodgers took back the lead in the fifth inning on Hernandez’s 395-foot homer. Then Ohtani created his magic again in the eighth innings and helped score a run on Mookie Betts’s 387-foot shot even after getting hit. Then Mookie Betts led to 3-1 which helped the team clinch that victory. 

For the team, it was almost Déjà vu too soon because Mookie Betts too was hit by a pitch this season. And he was sidelined for two long months. So after the game no time was wasted and Shohei Ohtani was taken for his MRI to check if his injury was severe. Dave Roberts has publicly announced the test results of the Japanese icon, that the fans were waiting for with baited breath.

Dodgers fans breathe easy: Ohtani’s MRI clears him to play after scare

The Dodgers fan can take a sigh of relief because their ace is all good to play. The MRI report came back negative. Dave Roberts spoke about the injury saying, “Ohtani’s OK. I think they took some scans, and I heard they were negative. He’s fine… It’s really scary. You always hold your breath. We experienced that with Mookie a few months ago. And obviously with Shohei, a ball coming in.”

Roberts further added that the ball thankfully hit the forearms. But indeed it was a big scare for the team because the little bones in the hands believe it or not take almost 4-6 weeks to heal. Mookie Betts, as we know, took two entire months, so, quite a save for the team. Moreover, given that the scare is at this point of the year, it was even more bone-chilling (literally) for the team. Shohei Ohtani, right now, has hit 41 home runs this season and stolen 40 bases in 128 games played by the Dodgers. He has a batting average of .292 and .994 OPS so far this season, thus, losing him to injury would have been detrimental. 

Right now, the team is in a brilliant spot, with 78 wins and leading the NL West. They are all ready to face the Baltimore Orioles on the upcoming Tuesday. And yes, Shohei Ohtani will surely be there to do what he does best—create records! Do you think he can do his 42nd home run there? Let us know in the comments.