Shohei Ohtani Will Not Pitch Sunday, Dodgers Return Timeline Unclear

Shohei Ohtani will not take the mound Sunday for the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his pitching return timeline has become unclear, per Sonja Chen at MLB.com.

The development lands after a week of incremental updates that never quite resolved into certainty. A 20-pitch bullpen session Friday left the Dodgers monitoring how Ohtani felt Saturday before making a call on Sunday — and that call has now come back as a no. What remains unconfirmed is any target date for his next start, or what specifically is driving the caution.

What we don't know yet

The report does not specify a diagnosis, a timetable, or whether the decision is precautionary or tied to a setback. Until the club addresses those questions, the mound return stays genuinely open-ended.

The rotation picture

The Dodgers are not without options. Tarik Skubal recently delivered six innings in Detroit, and Blake Snell has been posting strong results since returning from elbow surgery earlier this year. Evan Phillips has also looked fully recovered in the bullpen, striking out the side in a recent seventh inning. The depth is real — but Ohtani's absence from the rotation is a different kind of variable, and one that currently has no resolution date attached to it.