At 31-19, the Los Angeles Dodgers sit atop arguably the most difficult division in baseball, the NL West. The Padres, Giants and Diamondbacks all have a real postseason case as we near the end of May, while the Rockies are the exact opposite. For the Dodgers, the regular season is child’s play. The playoffs – and winning their second straight World Series – is what really matters. That’s what makes Shohei Ohtani’s latest update all the more terrifying.

Ohtani entered MLB as a two-way player, as most baseball fans are familiar with. However, the pitching-related injuries have piled up in recent seasons, thus making it tougher for Ohtani to continue excelling on the mound and at the plate. Ohtani has not pitched as a member of the Dodgers, for example, and he signed two offseasons ago.

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Shohei Ohtani’s impending return to the mound should scare MLB teams

The Dodgers have slow-played Ohtani’s return to the mound to the best of their ability, but ultimately whether he actually pitches again is up to the 30-year-old superstar. Ohtani has thrown a couple bullpen sessions and is working with the Dodgers medical staff to better prepare himself for what he views as the inevitable – a return to being a two-way player, to some extent. Shohei took another major step forward this week, mixing in his patented breaking pitches:

“He was spinning it a little bit more in the touch-and-feel,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m not sure what’s to come. Hopefully, he comes out of it well, which is what I would expect. And then, we’ll see what he does at Citi Field on Saturday, but there might be a little bit more of a progression increase. So we’ll see what that means.”

The Dodgers are being extra cautious with Ohtani

Ohtani is progressing towards facing live hitters, but Dodgers president of baseball operations wants to pump the brakes on any timely expectations of Ohtani, as he should.

“We knew, especially after the left shoulder surgery, we were just going to be a little bit more cautious and make sure that this got to a really good spot before we really started upping the intensity on the pitching side,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said recently. “And for us, with him coming off that injury, we didn’t expect … [to] think it was fair to think about a wire to wire.”

All that being said, the Dodgers wouldn’t be working with Ohtani on a comeback to the mound if they didn’t intend to use him this season. Whether it be for a second-half push, or as a postseason weapon, Ohtani will pitch in 2025 if all goes according to plan. That alone should scare the rest of baseball.