Fifty thousand fans held their breath as blood dripped across the big screen at Dodger Stadium. During Wednesday’s final home game against the Tampa Bay Rays, cameras showed a bloody blister on Shohei Ohtani’s pitching hand. That’s the second time this season, in fact, the second time within a week, the fans were worried about their superstar. Despite the 5-4 win and the series sweep, the blood stains on his pitching arm and pants took center stage.

“It’s just part of the game. There’s not a lot of situations where you feel 100%, so I just took it as that,” Ohtani offered a clear-cut answer through his interpreter during the postgame.

Ohtani cruised through four scoreless innings while the Los Angeles Dodgers took a 2-0 lead. Then he allowed five hits, four runs, and a walk without striking out a batter in the fifth inning. As he was walking out of the mound, the camera caught a blister bleeding on his middle finger. Ohtani returned for a sixth inning and allowed two more hits without a run or a walk. The Dodgers went ahead (5-4) in the bottom of the same inning, and neither team scored a run thereafter. 

And Shotime being Shotime, focused on the team instead of himself, saying, “It’s big that we were able to win a game like this.”

Manager Dave Roberts was not worried about Ohtani’s health or his bad fifth inning.

“We do this Dermabond, and I think today, I don’t know whether it came off or he didn’t use it, and that’s what caused the bleeding late,” Roberts said. “Right now, I don’t see why he won’t make his next start. I don’t know if that’s next Wednesday or next Thursday.”

Roberts pushed Ohtani to pitch the sixth inning to save the bullpen arms. The plan worked, but the noise around Shohei Ohtani’s workload management is gradually increasing. When Ohtani left the Pirates game last week with knee pain, fans panicked because of his medical history. Back in 2019, Ohtani had to get surgery on that same left knee to fix a rare problem called a bipartite patella. That surgery ended his 2019 season.

However, he later clarified that he thought it was caused by his flawed pitching mechanics the day before. 

“It’s actually hard to pinpoint at what moment this happened,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “All I can really know for sure is that I think my mechanics weren’t quite great in terms of my pitching side, so I believe that had something to do with this.”

While the team and Ohtani himself have downplayed the injury concerns, the fans have noted the downward pattern in his stats. 

He allowed five earned runs through a 0.82 ERA till the end of May. But halfway through June, he recorded a 3.38 ERA, allowing seven runs. At one point this season, the Dodgers planned to rest him from hitting duties on the days he pitches. But he has batted in 72 of 75 games so far. He even entered the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning this Wednesday. 

Although he is still one of the greatest starters in MLB in 2026, his downward slide, no matter how little, isn’t something the diehards can ignore. However, Ohtani’s hitting remains a totally different story.

Ohtani is still as dangerous on the plate despite the growing workload concerns

Even though the Dodgers earlier stated that they are taking precautionary measures to avoid any further injury, Ohtani’s bat is something they just can’t put to rest. There have been just three games in the entire season so far where he hasn’t appeared on the plate. 

While his pitching numbers went down this month, his bat was on fire. In fact, he has a 1.244 OPS in June compared to his season average of .966. He has already hit five homers, which is just one less than he managed in the entire month of April. 

He has the highest batting average on the team, and he sits atop the league with 51 runs. Managing all these while dealing with knee/hamstring issues and bleeding blister is what makes Shohei Ohtani a superstar. 

His own comments, the way the Dodgers are handling the situations, and his continued productions suggest that the franchise sees the issues as manageable, not setbacks. But they should also keep the postseason in mind. With a 48-27 record, the NL West toppers are practically in the playoffs already. Unless something unthinkable happens in the second half. That’s why they need Ohtani healthy to achieve their three-peat.