Shohei Ohtani sits Friday with left knee inflammation

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - JUNE 12: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout against the Chicago White Sox during the fourth inning at Rate Field on June 12, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Bartel/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Shohei Ohtani did not play in Friday’s series opener in Chicago after leaving Thursday’s game in Pittsburgh with left knee inflammation. Ohtani got an MRI on his left knee with showed “normal wear and tear,” manager Dave Roberts told reporters Friday in Chicago.

“With the travel, just to give him an extra day. My hope is that he’s in there tomorrow. But if not, he’ll need another day. It’s something we think we can manage, not an IL situation,” Roberts said, as shown on SportsNet LA. “Seeing him today, he feels fine-ish. But again, just giving him the extra day is the smart thing to do.”

Jack Harris at the California Post has more on Ohtani sitting on Friday, as does Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.

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Dusty Baker had quite the baseball life, with over five decades in the sport as a player, coach, and manager, including eight seasons playing for the Dodgers. Baker has a new memoir out, and Daniel Brown at The Athletic profiled the 77-year-old in an engaging interview. This little aside really tickled me:

“I used to hang out with Tom Selleck. We worked out together,” Baker says. “In L.A., you might run into anybody. He was a good dude.”

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Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the team physician for the Dodgers and Los Angeles Rams, and renowned surgeon who, among other things, also performed the recent arthroscopic nano-needle surgery on Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal in May, found himself in hot water on Thursday.

ElAttrache wrote a letter of support for UFC star Connor McGregor to use performance-enhancing drugs while McGregor rehabbed from a broken leg suffered in 2021, reported by Michael S. Schmidt of the New York Times.

Major League Baseball is looking into the situation, and ElAttrache has already spoken with MLB, he said in a statement released on Friday to Matt Morte of the New York Times:

“I have spoken with MLB and I am very comfortable with the process that the league and I will complete to assure the public that I have followed every rule and regulation in my medical treatment of athletes without exception” ElAttrache said in a statement. “My record is completely clean including in this case. I will leave it to MLB officials to provide any further comment as they see fit.“

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