What happened to Shohei Ohtani? Why Dodgers star won't pitch tonight, or play in All-Star Game

The Los Angeles Dodgers have plenty of representatives at the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, with Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Max Muncy, and Andy Pages all making the team.

However, Yamamoto isn't likely to start the All-Star Game, and now there was some bad news for Ohtani. Not only is he missing the All-Star Game, but he's also not going to pitch Friday night like he was normally scheduled to do.

As Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports, Ohtani is going to miss his scheduled Friday start and the All-Star Game due to a knee injury. Unfortunately, MLB's biggest superstar won't participate the All-Star Game, nor his recent start due to injury.

Shohei Ohtani to miss Friday start, miss All-Star Game amid injury

"Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani will not make his scheduled start on the mound this evening against the Arizona Diamondbacks due to continued irritation in his left knee. He will serve as the designated hitter the rest of the weekend, but following the series against the Diamondbacks, he will have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season. Unfortunately, due to these events, he will not be able to travel to Philadelphia and participate in the 2026 All-Star Game."

The announcement from the Dodgers that Ardaya shared is a big one. While it's important to note that Ohtani won't be heading to the injured list and will stay hit as the designated hitter against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he's not going to be pitching tonight.

For Friday night's game, the Dodgers will be going with a bullpen game instead of Ohtani taking the mound for the 15th time this season.

But, it's not just that Ohtani won't pitch during Friday night's game against the D-Backs, because he and the Dodgers are planning for the second half of 2026, he's going to miss the All-Star Game.

MORE: Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez is planned NL All-Star starter

Ohtani had a chance to be the NL's starting pitcher, but that is now out of the window. He's also no longer going to be the starting DH for the NL All-Star team, with that honor likely going to Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber.

This season, Ohtani has a 1.79 ERA in 14 starts with an 8-2 record, 2.7 bWAR, and 95 strikeouts across 85.2 innings pitched. As a hitter, he has 2.9 bWAR with a .290 average, .939 OPS, 20 homers, 56 RBIs, and a 158 OPS+.

While Ohtani will stay in the lineup leading up to the All-Star break, and might not need an IL stint at all due to this knee injury, he will miss his Friday start on the mound, and is now also going to be missing the All-Star Game entirely.

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