Why the Dodgers are waiting to start Shohei Ohtani as pitcher until Game 4

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a plan.

Shohei Ohtani's pitching in the NLCS has been well thought out.

And the final determination, announced by the Dodgers on Tuesday, is this: Ohtani will start Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Blake Snell already started Game 1.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is starting Game 2 on Tuesday night.

It'll be Tyler Glasnow as the Game 3 starter, and then Ohtani will get the ball in Game 4.

There's a logical reason.

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Why isn't Shohei Ohtani starting until NLCS Game 4?

The Dodgers want to have the best possible plan lined up for Game 7.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale spelled it out on X:

"This allows Glasnow to start a potential Game 7 and use Ohtani out of the bullpen in Game 7."

Conceptually, the Dodgers could've flipped this around so Glasnow was available out of the pen instead. But Ohtani has had success at moments in his baseball life coming out of the bullpen, so this works out.

If this series got to a Game 7 and there was the chance of Ohtani jogging in from the bullpen in relief, that'd be awesome. So maybe this will work out best for all fans of the game of baseball.

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