MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 26, 2024

Dave Roberts

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Dodgers - 4, Yankees - 2

Q. What's the status of Shohei Ohtani?

DAVE ROBERTS: He had a little left shoulder subluxation, but everything -- so we're going to get some tests at some point tonight, tomorrow, and then we'll know more in the next couple days.

But the strength was great. The range of motion good. So we're encouraged. But obviously I can't speculate because we don't get the scans yet. So once we get the scans, we'll know more. Again, with the strength, the range of motion good, that's certainly a positive.

Q. This will happen tomorrow?

DAVE ROBERTS: Tomorrow probably, yeah.

Q. What exactly happened that caused it?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't know. Obviously I think he slides on his left knee, right foot forward, that's my assumption, and then he probably -- as he put his hand down, it probably subluxed out. That's probably what it was.

Q. And that's what he said right away when you guys went out there for him?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yes.

Q. I know that the subluxation is one that guys can be prone to if they have repeated -- has he done this before?

DAVE ROBERTS: I don't know. I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure, don't know.

Q. One more with Ohtani. How concerning was just that scene when he went down?

DAVE ROBERTS: The scene, very concerning. Obviously when you get any one of your players that goes down, it's concerning. But after kind of the range of motion, the strength test, I felt much better about it.

Q. How much did that kind of just impact the mood in the clubhouse afterwards when you guys had the lead?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think for a minute, but then at that point in time, you've got Kopech coming out there, and we're still trying to win a baseball game.

Q. On Yamamoto, generally talk about what he did tonight. Also, talk about when you get to the middle innings, data generally says take him out --

DAVE ROBERTS: You're a data guy?

Q. I'm an analytics guy. Also, he hasn't gone that deep since he faced the Yankees back in June. So what went into your decision-making tonight?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think for me, watching how he was throwing the baseball. There wasn't much stress in the game. Yeah, he hasn't been in the seventh inning since that Yankee game. I felt -- I think he's thrown up to 76 pitches, so I felt building -- we had a good building block foundation.

So I really wanted him to get Stanton. So, number one, to get one more hitter, and to be able to touch that seventh inning. So I think for me that was it regardless.

Q. Then as you were navigating the ninth inning, what made it the right time to get Vesia up and what made it the right time to get him in the ballgame?

DAVE ROBERTS: Soto does a nice piece of hitting, then he gets the strikeout, then hits the bag for the base hit. Then Chisholm hits a ball down low that was really good. I thought he got back into the at-bat with Rizzo, leaned in, gets hit.

For me, I was trying to get him through to Volpe. That's kind of where I was at. I just didn't want to go to Alex too soon to potentially take a Volpe tax. I just felt that Blake had enough stuff to get Volpe in that spot.

Q. Back to Shohei, just to be perfectly clear, it's a subluxation, not a dislocation?

DAVE ROBERTS: That's what I heard from our trainer, yes.

Q. Just to go back to Yamamoto, obviously the comparison will be to the Yankee Stadium start, but how similar was he tonight to where that was? It seemed like the fastball, especially after that Soto at-bat, seemed like he seemed to lock in the command?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, you're looking at our two starters, I think they made one bad pitch apiece in their respective starts. This one tonight was a fastball away, supposed to be. He pull yanked it, and Soto didn't miss it.

But I would say that this start for me was probably a little bit better in the sense of we didn't have to navigate Soto back at Yankee Stadium either. Obviously on this stage, he was fantastic tonight.

Q. Which tests will they run?

DAVE ROBERTS: MRI.

Q. After the Soto home run, how important was that sequence with Teo and Freddie kind of responding, going deep back to backs?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was big. Teo's homer obviously was huge. I thought he just missed clipping him earlier and got a fastball belt line and really put a great swing on it.

Then Freddie, it's one thing to turn around 92, but 97 up and in, that's a different monster. He just took a really good swing. I think it -- yeah, big, big. We needed it clearly.

Q. Dave, does Shohei have the green light to run whenever he thinks is right?

DAVE ROBERTS: Yes, yes. Yeah, he stole however many bases. He's a pretty astute base runner. With two outs right there, to try to tack on in a World Series game, it was the right play. Just baseball happens, yeah.

Q. I know you've gone through a lot of injuries this year. If you have to play the rest of the World Series without Shohei Ohtani, how equipped are you to do that?

DAVE ROBERTS: I'm not there, Jason. I'm expecting him to be there. I'm expecting him to be in the lineup.

Q. Since it's Ohtani's left shoulder, just practically speaking, what is the significance of that for him as a hitter, his back shoulder?

DAVE ROBERTS: I would say that in a vacuum the left shoulder is better than the right shoulder for a left-handed hitter. Again, we'll know more, but to answer your question.

Q. If the Yankees had come back and tied, was he out of the game?

DAVE ROBERTS: I didn't even think that far. I'm just happy we didn't have to get to that spot.