00:00But what we do know at this point, Tom, is that the pitching future, immediate future of Shohei
00:05Ohtani, very much in question at this point. And it's not even a lower leg injury anymore.
00:10It does appear to be some sort of soreness with the arm. Dave Roberts told reporters on
00:16Saturday that he would never throw a pitcher who was feeling what he is feeling. By the way,
00:20they don't think that this is serious. And it could be the kind of thing that in a month from
00:24now, we see him back getting ready to pitch in the postseason. I would doubt that, though,
00:28at this point. And what certainly has happened is that the major move in all of the odds boards
00:33after Pete Crow Armstrong's three home runs, they've now made PCA the heavy favorite to win
00:39the MVP, which I've stated many times. I do not agree with. I still think Shohei Ohtani,
00:44what, those pitching stats from April, May, and June just don't count? Are we just throwing those
00:49away? I got news for you. If Ohtani, Tom, did not pitch in April, May, and June and was pitching
00:55the way that he did in those three months, in the final three months, Ohtani would be the MVP.
01:01It is ridiculous. But I'm not taking anything away from PCA. I'm going to see him in person
01:05when he plays Miami next week. He has been the best position player in all of baseball this season.
01:10I still think the whole notion is ridiculous. It's more about timing, to me, than anything else.
01:16PCA is going to win the NL MVP, and I'm just going to have to live with it.
01:20I mean, we saw it last year when Ohtani didn't start the year on the mound, and then he starts
01:25pitching, you know, halfway through the season, whatever it was, and, you know, he was electric
01:28then. As for the actual issue that Ohtani is facing with the arm, you know, this is something
01:35I've said for months at this point, where, you know, since Ohtani got hurt and wasn't pitching,
01:40where I believe that Ohtani wants to pitch, and Ohtani and his people are telling the Dodgers,
01:44like, yeah, you signed him to pitch, you signed him to do both, he's going to pitch.
01:47Meanwhile, the Dodgers are a little bit hesitant on that, and they don't want him to pitch.
01:52They don't want him rushing out there on the mound, or rushing to get back on the mound.
01:56As Dave Roberts said, he would never put a pitcher out there, and, you know, frankly,
02:00all the reports that I've read, and as you alluded to, like, this isn't some major issue
02:04for Ohtani. If he just takes another couple weeks off and doesn't force himself back on
02:08the mound, he could actually be ready for the postseason, whether or not he actually pitches
02:12during the postseason with his bicep issue or whatever it is, he should be fine.
02:16But, again, I think this is, they just got to go to a time, like, we got to play the
02:20long game here. Like, we can win another World Series. We don't need to push you out on the
02:24mound at the end of August. Let's give it a couple more weeks, and if we can get you
02:27one more start at the end of September, he can be an opener come the postseason.
02:31Totally agree. Roki Sasaki, by the way, went on the injured list with a blister.
02:36That's obviously not a major issue. And the Dodgers will piece it together for the next
02:40two weeks until Sasaki comes back, and they certainly have enough starters. In fact, if they
02:43wanted to throw Robleski back into the rotation, they could do that as well. Meanwhile, Tariq
02:48Skubal went home to Detroit. I thought he did very well. It was a back-and-forth, very
02:52tight game throughout. He threw 83 pitches, six innings, one earned runs, seven strikeouts,
02:57four hits. His last two starts have looked exactly like we thought Skubal would look, Tom.
03:02Exactly. And, you know, the first start at the Cubs was, you know, interesting. It was on
03:07the road. It wasn't the best overall. But what I saw, what interested me the most from that
03:12start from Skubal was only 83 pitches. He was up over 100 the last few starts, or, you
03:17know, his last start for Skubal. And he's really been pushing the number of pitches. So
03:22great stuff from Skubal. The fans gave him a great response. It was fun to see him there.
03:26And obviously, you know, after a player like him gets traded, it's all good when he's enjoying
03:31himself out there, you know, facing his former team that he spent his entire career with up
03:36until this point. So great stuff from Skubal and great stuff from the Tigers fans as well.
03:40what do you think we need to do well?
