LOS ANGELES.- The superstar of Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtanidid not start this Friday as a pitcher due to persistent irritation in his left knee and will not participate in the All-Star Game of the Major Leaguesthe club reported.
“Shohei Ohtani will serve as designated hitter for the rest of the weekend, but after the series against the D-backs “He will undergo some knee surgery to put him in the best possible position for the second half of the season,” the Dodgers said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, due to these events, you will not be able to travel to Philadelphia nor participate in the 2026 All-Star Game,” the franchise added.
Ohtani left a game on June 11 due to left knee discomfort and was out of the lineup the next day.
Since then, he has tried to manage the problem, located in the same knee on which he had surgery in 2019 to correct a congenital condition in which the kneecap never completely fused into a single bone.
The Japanese, four times Most Valuable Playerhas shined this season in his two roles with the Dodgers, despite dealing with various physical ailments, including a blister on his throwing hand, a biceps problem and a knee injury.
On offense, he is hitting .290, with 20 home runs and 56 RBIs, while as a pitcher he has a 1.79 ERA, 95 strikeouts and an 8-2 record.
On Tuesday he hit his 300th career home run, becoming the first player born in Japan to reach that figure in the Major Leagues.
Ohtani was scheduled to serve as designated hitter for the All-Star Game, which will be played next Tuesday at the Citizens Bank Parkhouse of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Duplantis wins pole vault in Monaco
The Swedish star Armand Duplantis took the victory in the pole vault at the meeting of the Monaco Diamond League this Friday, with 6.07 meters, but without being able to break a world record.
The 26-year-old jumper cleared the 5.70m, 5.85m and 6.07m bars – a meet record – first time, before failing three times before the 6.15m bar.
He did not even try this evening to seek his sixteenth world record, which last March he raised to 6.31 meters.
“Mondo” thus has a second consecutive victory in a Diamond League event, after the one at the end of June in Pariswhere he was reunited with victory after having suffered at the beginning of that month in Stockholm his first defeat in almost three years.
