Shohei Ohtani Rule Explained: Why Dodgers Get Extra Pitcher

Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell stuck his toe in the water this week and nary a ripple was created.

In grumbling about how the Los Angeles Dodgers are effectively allowed to carry 14 pitchers on their active roster because of Shohei Ohtani, instead of 13 like everybody else, Counsell essentially admitted that he understands why it is allowed.

"There's not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player,” Counsell told reporters before a game at Wrigley Field, basically confirming the reason the allowance exists.

There truly is no other player like Ohtani, which is why the Dodgers are paying him $700 million for 10 seasons. The fact that most of the money is being deferred is another topic entirely. With the signing, the Dodgers were paying for an MVP-caliber designated hitter who could also take the mound on occasion.

This season, Ohtani has pitched about once every week.

Through multiple elbow issues, Ohtani continues to do both jobs at an elite level. Had he been at or below average in one or both, maybe there would not have been an objection.

In his return to his first full season as a pitcher since 2003, Ohtani has allowed just one earned run over his four starts, through an outing Wednesday at San Francisco. It leaves him with a 0.38 ERA through his first 24 innings and a bit of Dodgers history.

Only Kenta Maeda (2016) and Fernando Valenzuela (1981,1985) have gone their first four starts of a season with an ERA that low in the team’s Los Angeles era.

Add in the five home runs, 11 RBIs and 15 runs scored, and the Dodgers’ real advantage becomes clear. They have a player like no other.

“It's a rule to help offense, I think, more than anything, if you ask me," the Cubs’ manager said. "And then there's one team that's allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration. Which is probably the most bizarre rule."

Actually, there might be an Ohtani rule that is even more bizarre.

On days Ohtani pitches, he gets to remain in the game on offense as the designated hitter when he leaves the mound. That exemption came about in 2022 and was actually dubbed “The Ohtani rule.”

Prior to that, if an American League team wanted to let its starting pitcher occupy a spot in the batting order, that spot would then be assigned to the relief pitcher who replaced him.

That might be the rule that brings into question the spirit of the game, more than pitching staff limits.

Counsell’s complaint seemed to piggyback a social media post from former MLB general manager Jim Bowden, who said last weekend the league needs to “... eradicate the exemption the Dodgers get to carry an extra pitcher.”

In the same post, Bowden is actually “ok with allowing (Ohtani) to DH when he pitches and remain in game.”

Here’s the thing about Ohtani’s two-way reality. Like any other pitcher, he also is doing his in-between start work. And then he puts in the full-time work of a hitter.

While taxing himself as a two-way player, Ohtani has blown out his pitching elbow twice in under five years. It’s not as if there isn’t a tax to pay.

And yet Counsell is not wrong. The Dodgers do have an advantage with Ohtani. But it came about because his original organization in Japan took the time and the investment risk to nurture both disciplines. The Nippon-Ham Fighters developed perhaps one the most unique talents of all time.

Nothing but risk assessment is stopping MLB clubs from doing the same. No team wants to expose one of their better hitters to a pitching injury, or have one of their best pitchers to come up lame on the bases.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ultimately responded to Counsell’s complaint.

“It certainly benefits us because we have the player,” Roberts said. “But that’s something that any team that had Ohtani would have. We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both.

“He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player.”

The juicy part comes next. The Dodgers play host to the Cubs for a three-game series starting Friday. And no, Ohtani will not be pitching in any of the games but he is expected to come to the plate four times a contest.