Ohtani Is Back in the Lineup. The Roster Around Him Is Still a Mess.

Shohei Ohtani is batting second against San Diego today, back in the lineup after 16 days away. That is the good news, and it is genuinely good news — Ohtani hitting is a different offense, and the Dodgers have needed a different offense for most of September.

The caveat, as it has been all season, is everything else. The current injury list still includes nine players, with multiple arms locked on the 60-day IL and Edwin Díaz managing a 15-day stint of his own. The bullpen has a reliever who has been nearly unmanageable over his last five appearances. The rotation beyond Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow remains thin. Pages and Sasaki came back last week, which helped, but this is still a roster held together with tape in several places.

So Ohtani stepping in at DH today matters, and it should be noted. What it does not do is answer the question I flagged after the Pages and Sasaki returns: whether this group can actually build toward October or is simply treading water until it gets there. The division is locked up, the third seed is secure, and the Dodgers have won seven of their last ten. Ohtani back in the two-hole makes the next two weeks look more manageable. Whether he makes October look different is still an open question.