Shohei Ohtani is the only player in baseball who could cause the controversy that he did during Game 7 of the World Series.
Ohtani made the final out in the top of the third inning with a lineout to left fielder Nathan Lukes, and then he had to go pitch. So, he went to the dugout and took his time getting back out to the mound.
Normally, pitchers get a fixed amount of time or number of pitches to warm up for an inning. Because Ohtani made the last out and was making a transition from hitting to pitching, he got some extra time to warm up.
The Blue Jays were not happy. Manager John Schneider was pointing toward his wrist as if to say Ohtani was getting too much time.
Mark Carlson on why Shohei Ohtani is granted more warm up time in-between innings
Mark Carlson talked about why Shohei Ohtani was granted more warm up time in-between innings.
MLB rules expert Mark Carlson was on the FOX broadcast during the postseason from the MLB replay center and clarified the rule.
“Shohei is obviously a unique player as a two-way player,” Carlson said. “As a pitcher, if he ends the inning on base or on deck, he gets the discretion of the umpires to allow him to have the appropriate time to pitch.”
But was he milking it?
“This is the World Series. You don’t want to take the potential of a pitcher being injured and rushing and getting back out there,” Carlson said. “I understand that there are timelines, but because it’s the World Series, I think you take the proactive approach.”
Well, the extra time to warm up didn’t work out for Ohtani. The fourth batter of the inning was Bo Bichette, who hit a three-run home run to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead.
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