LA Dodgers
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46 minutes agoWhat Really Happened With George Springer Asking About Shohei Ohtani's Warmup Time
Shohei Ohtani delivered a quality start, but the Dodgers lost to the Blue Jays amid controversy over his warm-up time.
We need to see him, I think is probably the best. He's on a flight back here. [We need to] get our hands on Seiya and see what's going on. I think it's just best we wait and see, and let our doctors and trainers take a look at him and see what's going on. You never want to see your players come out of a game.
He didn't lose that bulldog presence and he kept attacking the zone. They kept hitting him a little bit, but he kind of limited the damage. If we were watching an NFL game, it was like the 'bend don't break' situation. The way he talked about it, it was more mature than a normal freshman.
Sugano signed a one-year, $13MM deal with Baltimore last offseason. He posted a 4.64 ERA across 30 outings. The righty got off to a solid start, putting up a 3.04 ERA through a dozen appearances, before falling off as the season went on. Sugano had an xFIP and a SIERA in the mid-4.00s during that stretch, so regression was coming.
After a long run in their rotation, he moved to the bullpen and has ascended to their closer role in recent seasons. The right-hander posted a 3.02 ERA with 16 saves, four holds and only two blown opportunities last year. He's fanned nearly 24% of opponents in his career, but Norimoto's strikeout rate dropped to 17.2% in 2025 and his fastball velocity took a dip as well, sitting around 92 mph this past year (down from his days of sitting 94-95 and climbing as high as 97-98 mph).
With Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, Joe Ryan and Logan Webb solidifying the rotation, it is safe to assume Kershaw's role will be out of the bullpen. It is a role he has experience in from the end of the Dodgers' 2025 season. He made the Dodgers' postseason roster in three of the four rounds in a reliever role. The left-hander made two separate appearances, which included recording the final out in the 12th inning of Game 3 of the World Series to escape a bases-loaded jam.