In the middle of a season that has once again confirmed his singular place in baseball history, Shohei Ohtani will sit out the All-Star Game — not by choice, but by the quiet insistence of a left knee that has troubled him more than once this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers, ever mindful of the longer arc, will use the Midsummer Classic's pause to tend to that knee, trading one night of spectacle for the hope of many more months of it. His absence, arriving alongside that of Aaron Judge, reminds us that the game's brightest lights are also, in the end, human — subject to the same fragilities tha
Ohtani Out of All-Star Game as Dodgers Manage Knee Injury
The only player in MLB history to do what Ruth did twice, and never stole fifty bases
Mark
Why hold out a player performing at this level? Couldn't he play through it?
Mimi
The Dodgers are thinking about October, not July. A nagging knee in summer becomes a serious problem in September and the playoffs. They'd rather lose him for one game than risk losing him for a month.
Mark
But he's been an All-Star five years running. Doesn't that streak matter to him?
Mimi
It probably does. But he's also a professional who understands that his real job is winning a championship, not padding his All-Star resume. The team made the call for him.
Mark
What's the difference between this and other injuries we see players play through?
Mimi
Timing. The All-Star break is built into the calendar. It's the only moment in the season where you can actually stop and repair something without sacrificing regular-season games. That's the whole point of holding him out now.
Mark
Is there a risk that the interventions don't work?
Mimi
Always. But the alternative—pushing through and potentially aggravating it—is worse. At least this way they're being proactive rather than reactive.
Mark
How much does losing Judge and Ohtani change what the All-Star Game is?
Mimi
It changes the narrative. You lose two of the three or four most recognizable players in the sport. The game becomes less about star power and more about depth. That's not nothing.
El Pulso
- A knee that has flared repeatedly this season finally forced the Dodgers' hand, ruling Ohtani out of Tuesday's All-Star Game despite numbers — a .290 average and a 1.79 ERA — that belong among the best in baseball.
- The loss lands hard on an event already diminished: Aaron Judge, sidelined since late May with a fractured rib, will also be absent, stripping the All-Star Game of its two most luminous draws.
- Rather than let Ohtani play through the irritation, the Dodgers are treating the break as a medical window, scheduling interventions designed to stabilize the knee before the second half begins.
- The deeper tension is whether those interventions will hold — or whether the knee becomes a shadow that follows one of history's most extraordinary athletes into the stretch run.
In the middle of a season that has once again confirmed his singular place in baseball history, Shohei Ohtani will sit out the All-Star Game — not by choice, but by the quiet insistence of a left knee that has troubled him more than once this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers, ever mindful of the longer arc, will use the Midsummer Classic's pause to tend to that knee, trading one night of spectacle for the hope of many more months of it. His absence, arriving alongside that of Aaron Judge, reminds us that the game's brightest lights are also, in the end, human — subject to the same fragilities that govern us all.
Shohei Ohtani will not appear in Tuesday's All-Star Game. The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that their two-way star has been ruled out with left knee irritation — a problem that has surfaced multiple times this season — and that the team will use the Midsummer Classic break to administer medical interventions before play resumes.
The absence is a genuine one. Ohtani has been an All-Star in each of the past five seasons and has become as close to a fixture of the event as the game itself. His exclusion this year arrives in the middle of an exceptional season: he is batting .290 with a .939 OPS, seventh-best in the league, while posting a 1.79 ERA that ranks second among pitchers with at least eighty innings pitched — numbers that put him on pace for a fifth MVP award in six seasons.
He will not be alone in his absence. Aaron Judge, the other defining face of the sport, has been sidelined since late May with a fractured rib and will also miss the game. Together, their withdrawals represent a significant dimming of the All-Star Game's star power.
The scale of what Ohtani has built makes the moment feel weighty. He is the only player in Major League Baseball history to log three hundred or more plate appearances and forty or more innings pitched in six separate seasons — a standard Babe Ruth reached only twice. This season he has added twenty home runs and fifty-six RBI, but it is his pitching that has carried the greater weight of his value.
The Dodgers' decision to hold him out and focus on his knee signals that they are thinking past one night of celebration and toward the months ahead. Whether the interventions resolve the issue or merely manage it remains the open question hanging over the second half of his season.
Shohei Ohtani will not play in Tuesday's All-Star Game. The Los Angeles Dodgers announced that their two-way star has been ruled out due to left knee irritation, a nagging problem that has surfaced more than once already this season. The team plans to use the Midsummer Classic break to administer medical interventions designed to fortify his knee before the second half of the season resumes.
Ohtani's absence represents a genuine loss for baseball's marquee midseason event. He has been an All-Star in each of the past five seasons, earning his first selection in 2021, and has become as much a fixture of the game as any player in the sport. His presence at the All-Star Game has come to feel almost automatic—a given, like the game itself.
The timing is particularly striking because Ohtani is having an exceptional year. He is batting .290 with a .939 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, the seventh-best mark in the league. On the mound, he has posted a 1.79 earned run average, the second-lowest among pitchers with at least eighty innings pitched. These numbers put him on track to win his fifth MVP award in the last six seasons. He will serve as the Dodgers' designated hitter through the All-Star break, but will not take the field in the game itself.
Ohtani's injury comes as the All-Star Game is already losing another of baseball's brightest stars. Aaron Judge, the other face of the sport, will also miss the game after suffering a fractured rib that has sidelined him since late May. The combination of their absences is a notable blow to the event's star power.
The scale of Ohtani's accomplishment this season—and across his career—makes his absence feel weighty. He has hit ninety-nine home runs combined over the past two seasons, leading the National League with a 1.025 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in that span. He did not pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery, but returned to the mound last year with a 2.87 earned run average and 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings, matching a figure he posted in 2022 that led the American League. He is the only player in Major League Baseball history to record three hundred or more plate appearances and forty or more innings pitched in six separate seasons—a feat even Babe Ruth accomplished only twice, and Ruth never stole fifty bases in a season as Ohtani has done.
This season, Ohtani has twenty home runs and fifty-six runs batted in, numbers that might seem modest for him but reflect the reality that his pitching performance has been the dominant part of his value. The Dodgers' decision to hold him out of the All-Star Game and use the break for medical work suggests they are prioritizing his health and availability for the stretch run ahead. The question now is whether the interventions will resolve the knee issue or whether it will linger as a concern through the remainder of the season.
Citas Notables
The Dodgers said Ohtani will have some interventions on his knee to put him in the best position for the second half of the season— Los Angeles Dodgers team statement
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