Dodgers Show Shin-Soo Choo's Problems in Game 159; MLB Faces Decision Dilemma
After losing in the WBC, both Ohtani and Yamamoto return to Spring Training to get ready for the season
The baseball world is in the throes of the World Baseball Classic, with the final game Tuesday night featuring Team USA against. Will Smith is the only Dodger still playing in the WBC. Samuri Japan was eliminated Saturday by Venezuela and as such, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani are back in Arizona.
While neither is happy with how their WBC run ended, their eyes are now on getting the Dodgers that Three-Peat. On Monday, Yamamoto was named the Opening Day starter. Eric Stephen covered that story here .
As for Ohtani, he did not pitch in the WBC, but he did throw bullpens. His most recent was a four-inning outing last Thursday. Since the assumption was that Samurai Japan was going to go all the way to the finals in the WBC, there wasn’t much of an expectation that Ohtani would pitch in Spring Training this year.
Now, Ohtani will have time to take the mound at least once before the season starts. Ohtani could pitch later this week in Arizona, or be kept until the Freeway Series starting on Sunday. Sonya Chen covers all the details for MLB.