Roughly 4 hours earlier than first pitch Monday night time, Shohei Ohtani sat at his locker within the Dodger Stadium clubhouse and ready for his largest sport of the season.

First, the reigning MVP unwrapped the black compression sleeve he wears when pitching, and pulled it over his proper arm. Then, he grabbed his bat and a pair of hitting gloves and headed towards the cages.

On this present day, each bit of kit was wanted.

For the primary time in nearly two years, the two-way star can be taking part in each methods once more.

Within the Dodgers’ collection opener in opposition to the San Diego Padres on Monday, Ohtani made his long-awaited return as a pitcher from a September 2023 Tommy John operation, taking the mound in a Dodgers uniform for the primary time because the membership’s beginning pitcher whereas additionally persevering with to function their leadoff hitter within the lineup.

Ohtani’s pitching outing was transient, lasting only one inning. In it, the right-hander tossed 28 pitches, giving up one run on two hits (a pair of flare singles from Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado) and a sacrifice fly from Manny Machado.

Ohtani’s type was removed from flawless. Whereas he touched 100 mph together with his fastball, his command regarded rusty, lacking the zone 12 instances, with one wild pitch. Whereas he bought three swing-and-misses, he failed to complete any of his 5 two-strike counts with a strikeout (although Machado almost went round on a two-strike sweeper, needing a beneficiant check-swing name from an umpire earlier than lifting his sac fly).

When Ohtani lastly retired the aspect, it felt extra like a sigh of reduction, together with his climbing pitch depend already resulting in motion within the bullpen.

And but, the event was momentous nonetheless; marking the primary time since August 2023 that Ohtani had pitched in a significant league sport, and displaying even after a second profession Tommy John surgical procedure that there’s loads of life nonetheless left in his arm.

“To take this on — the physical [toll], talent-wise, the psychology of it — this is a big undertaking,” supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “As people say, he’s a unicorn.”

Initially, it appeared the Dodgers must wait at the very least one other month earlier than seeing Ohtani pitch in a sport. Regardless of some optimism earlier than spring coaching that Ohtani may resume pitching in April or Could, the group had been slow-playing his pitching program because the begin of the common season, lengthy concentrating on after the All-Star break so as to add him to their rotation.

“This is such a unique scenario,” basic supervisor Brandon Gomes mentioned. “[We were] making sure we’re not doing anything to put the offensive side in jeopardy.”

Within the final couple weeks, nonetheless, that calculus began to alter.

First, Ohtani impressed coaches and executives in three completely different reside batting observe classes, working his manner as much as three innings and 44 pitches in his most up-to-date one in San Diego final week.

Then, in conferences with group officers, he expressed some concern with persevering with to construct up in additional simulated classes, relaying the toll it took on his physique to pitch a number of innings in a day earlier than ramping as much as DH later the identical night time.

“The getting hot, throwing a live at 1:30, 2:00, cooling down, coming back, getting ready to lead off the game — I can’t even imagine how taxing that is,” mentioned Gomes, a former big-league reliever. “There is no playbook for this. So it had to be an ongoing conversation, and making sure that Shohei is the one driving this conversation.”

And in current days, Ohtani started to direct such conversations in a special path, leading to a faster timeline to get him again in sport motion.

“It [was] more of like, ‘Well, I don’t think there’s anything else to do. I’m ready to go. What else do I need to do to get back on a major-league mound?’” Roberts recalled of Ohtani’s message to the group. “You try to treat him like a normal pitcher and a normal ramp-up or buildup. But if [he only needs to be built up for] an inning or two, it’s ‘Well, I’ve already done that.’”

Certainly, by that time, the Dodgers had already indicated that Ohtani wouldn’t should be absolutely built-up to return to sport motion. Because of his standing as a two-way participant, they have been open to bringing him again as a pitcher even when he would initially solely throw one or two innings.

Thus got here the pivotal query.

“‘Can I pitch now?’” Roberts recalled Ohtani asking.

The reply, the Dodgers determined over the past two days, was sure, slotting Ohtani in as an opener in entrance of bulkman Ben Casparius for Monday.

“It got to the point where [it was], ‘Hey, feels like we should take that next step,’” Gomes mentioned, “and almost look to finish the rehab at the major league level, because of the taxing nature of what he was doing.”

Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers in opposition to the Padres on Monday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Instances)

Shifting ahead, Ohtani will probably proceed to function an opener as soon as per week; constructing as much as two innings, then three, and so forth till he’s capable of deal with a standard workload.

The precise plan will rely on how he responds to his return to two-way duties, with the Dodgers remaining cautious of pushing him too onerous on the mound earlier than the stretch run of the season.

“As we said before, this is a unique situation, and making sure that he’s in a good place and we’re just taking it small bites along the way as far as what comes next is incredibly important,” Gomes mentioned. “At each step, we’ll have those discussions and make sure that that is the guiding light, to make sure that he’s feeling as good as possible come October.”

Nonetheless, for one night time, one inning of watching Ohtani pitch was sufficient.

“We saw it from the other side, from afar, when he was with the Angels,” Roberts mentioned. “So now, I think I got the best seat in the house to watch this guy start and then take an at-bat. This is bananas. So I’m thrilled.”