Shohei Ohtani just snapped the skid — and Tyler Glasnow might be right behind him. Welcome to Dodgers Daily. Ohtani being Ohtani, Glasnow inching back, and I feel a whole lot better about life than I did 48 hours ago. We’re also getting into how the front office actually thinks about sitting stars and slowing rehab down. And no, it’s not the panic crowd version. Plus the real reason they grabbed Alek Thomas. Let’s get into it. Locked On Dodgers writes:
The Dodgers needed somebody to calm everything down on Wednesday night. They had lost four straight games. The pitching had been okay, but not excellent. The offense had disappeared at times, and the overall vibe around the team suddenly felt tense after what had been a good stretch earlier in the season. Then, Shi Otani last night took them out and completely took over the game.
Shohei Ohtani: seven shutout innings, eight strikeouts. The Dodgers were sliding, and he just took the wheel. That’s what a two-hundred-million-dollar arm looks like. Four straight losses and I was starting to spiral, not gonna lie. Then Shohei goes out and just suffocates the Giants for seven innings? I’m back, baby. Completely back. Joey, it was four games. Four. I lived through the McCourt era — I watched this franchise almost go bankrupt. A four-game skid is not a crisis, it’s a Tuesday. And against the Giants, too. That’s the best part. San Francisco fans are going to spend all summer pretending this is some great rivalry, and Shohei just reminded them where they stand. Here's Joey Mistretta at ClutchPoints:
“Tyler Glasnow has resumed playing catch over the last couple days. Goal is to get off a mound soon. When that happens, if all goes well, could go right back into the rotation,” Ardaya wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Glasnow update, and for once it’s good news — he’s back playing catch, the goal is to get him on a mound soon, and per Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic, he might not even need a rehab assignment before he slides back into the rotation. A 2.72 ERA before he went down, and now he might just walk straight back into the rotation? Yes, please. This rotation is already filthy — getting Glasnow back is just mean. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. “Assuming no setbacks” is carrying a lot of weight there. Back injuries love to hang around. I know, I know. I’ve been burned before. But if they’re skipping the rehab assignment, they must feel good about it — and I’m choosing to feel good about it too. From r/mlb (484 upvotes):
Shohei Ohtani’s ERA right now is 0.82 based off seven starts in 2026. This is the lowest ERA in all of Major League Baseball. This dominant performance compares to the “Fernandomania” phenomenon from 1981. Shohei’s pitching through seven games is only second in historical performance to Fernando Valenzuela, who pitched 0.29 ERA through seven games in 1981. Yet again Los Angeles is fortunate to have a phenom on our team. We get to see a worldwide talent right in our backyard. We love LA. Go…
Okay, so somebody snuck an Ohtani stat dump into the Glasnow thread — 0.82 ERA through seven starts — and honestly, fair. The man is second only to Fernandomania in franchise history, and that’s not even a reach. That number is ridiculous. And if Glasnow comes back healthy, this rotation is going to make other fan bases physically ill. Which, frankly, is the point. So when the Dodgers sit Ohtani on pitching days or slow-play a Glasnow return while they’re dropping series, is that actually medical — or is the front office already thinking October? It’s basically all of that at once, and the Ohtani situation is the clearest look at how they’re handling it. Dave Roberts told Alden Gonzalez the goal is for Ohtani to make every single start on the mound, and to get there, there has to be — in his words — “compromise and openness to read and react.” That’s not spin; you can see it in the numbers. Per that same ESPN reporting, when Ohtani’s pitching workload ramped up last summer, the team basically shut down his baserunning — he stole just two bags across June and July — to protect his body from the cumulative stress. The thinking isn’t one dial, it’s several: workload modeling to protect an elbow that’s been surgically repaired twice, per Barry Bloom’s reporting, plus real-time performance tracking, plus roster context. And Glasnow fits the same pattern. Roberts said in September that the skip days and slow returns weren’t about the standings, they were about sequencing his arm for sustained use. The Press Enterprise noted last October that Glasnow spent a lot of time on the IL in the regular season, then showed up in the postseason throwing at a high level alongside Ohtani and Yamamoto. Whether that was master plan or lucky break, Roberts called it “working.” So if the offense is scuffling like it clearly is right now, does that October plan ever bend — or is it basically untouchable no matter what the record says? Based on everything Roberts has said publicly, it’s untouchable. FOX Sports was explicit this week that the Dodgers still plan to give Ohtani rest days even after his first homer in two weeks, four straight losses be damned. The logic is simple: a fully healthy Ohtani arm in October is worth more than any extra win in May. Watch the language — if Roberts ever shifts from “process” to “urgency,” that’s your sign something has changed medically or the playoff picture has gotten genuinely ugly. Here's Jace Andrews at Dodgers Digest:
His second comment was more interesting as he told the media that they're going to do a deep dive on Alex Thomas's swing and see if they can't tweak a couple things to make him better. Now right now he'll reside in Triple-A with the Oklahoma City Dodgers, but as Dave Roberts mentioned, if they need him, they're welcome to pull him up at any time.
Dodgers quietly picked up Alek Thomas off Arizona’s scrap heap — DFA’d by the Diamondbacks, now he’s a depth piece in Oklahoma City while the organization takes a look at his swing. Love it. Taking a guy the Diamondbacks gave up on and saying, “We’ll fix him” — that’s a flex. That is the Dodgers’ whole thing right now. Dave Roberts specifically pointed to the swing mechanics as the project, so this is less “we need an outfielder tomorrow” and more “let’s see what the development staff can do.” Low-risk, maybe nothing, maybe a useful depth piece. Meanwhile, Diamondbacks fans are out here handing us DFA’d talent. Keep it coming, Arizona. From Estevão Maximo at True Blue LA:
Sometimes your best isn’t enough, and that was the case for Isaac Ayon, who could only cover five scoreless innings in the matchup between the Tower Buzzers and Giants. As impressive as keeping the Giants off the board was, the manner in which Ayon accomplished that stood out even more, earning two-thirds of his outs via strikeout.
Minor league day was a tale of extremes — two guys looked like future rotation pieces, two guys got shelled. Isaac Ayon was the headliner: 10 strikeouts, five scoreless innings, one hit allowed. And he still lost. He kept the Giants off the board for five innings and still took the L? That’s brutal. And 35 strikeouts in 27 innings? This kid is nasty, I don’t care what level it is. Cole Irvin gave up six runs in the second inning at Triple-A, which is the kind of outing that reminds you why he’s at Triple-A. Meanwhile Freeland and Kike combined to go 0-for-7 after Freeland got sent down to make room for Mookie’s return. Zero for seven between those two? Yikes. Get Mookie back on the field and let’s stop worrying about Oklahoma City. If you like keeping up with L.A. sports every day, try Angel City Daily Podcast — a daily ACFC supporter briefing with match reaction, NWSL standings, roster moves, women’s soccer in Los Angeles, and supporter buzz. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
You’ll find links to all of today’s stories in the show notes, so if something caught your ear, you can take a closer look there.
That’s Dodgers Daily Podcast for this Friday, May 15th. Thanks for listening, and have a great weekend. This is a Lantern Podcast.