CHICAGO — Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts approved of Shohei Ohtani’s return to the club’s lineup on one condition. Ohtani could not push his left knee, which kept him out of Friday’s game and required imaging.Ohtani complied, and the two-way star ensured he could trot around the bases instead by lacing Chicago White Sox right-hander Sean Burke’s second pitch of Saturday’s game into the right-field seats for a leadoff homer.
SHOHEI'S BACK. pic.twitter.com/AbGGzLaQea
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 13, 2026The Dodgers’ franchise cornerstone was dealing with swelling on the back of his left knee during Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, which prompted Roberts to remove him from the game and ensure that the issue did not escalate. This was the left knee that Ohtani had surgery on in 2019 to address a bipartite patella that he was born with.Roberts still downplayed the club’s level of concern. Friday’s imaging showed nothing other than “wear and tear,” the manager said, with Roberts adding that Ohtani would have played in the game had it not been a regular-season game in June. The Dodgers did not want to push things with the four-time MVP, but dismissed the idea that he would land on the injured list.So he was back in the lineup on Saturday.“Today he feels great,” Roberts said. “All the confidence that he can go out there and hit, feel good, not regress at all.”Ohtani playfully side-eyed Roberts as the manager discussed his status with reporters on Saturday afternoon (Ohtani has not addressed the media since the knee issue flared up). Then Ohtani went and played catch on flat ground under the supervision of pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness, as well as head athletic trainer Thomas Albert.Ohtani is on track to make his next scheduled pitching start on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, Roberts said.When his throwing session was done, Ohtani jogged around the bases. If there’s any part of Ohtani’s game that will need to be on the back burner for now, it’s his baserunning.“There will be no basestealing,” Roberts joked about the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season.Ohtani can still do the other part. He clobbered Burke’s 94.2 mph fastball up and in. The ball screamed off his bat at 109.6 mph and traveled a projected 409 feet for his fifth leadoff home run of the season and 29th of his career. It was a boon for a Dodgers lineup that added two more runs in the opening frame on Max Muncy’s two-run homer.Ohtani’s home run increased his OPS to .980 this season through his first 299 plate appearances, the highest mark of any qualified National League hitter.
