ATLANTA -- Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Tarik Skubal will make his highly anticipated return to Comerica Park on Friday in the opener of a weekend series against the Detroit Tigers.
Hours before that 6:40 p.m. ET first pitch, Shohei Ohtani will throw another bullpen session. If that goes well, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, Ohtani could start Sunday's series finale against the Tigers, though the expectation is he would throw only the first inning. In that scenario, Tyler Glasnow would likely follow him as the bulk pitcher, a preview of how the Dodgers could potentially use the two in the postseason.
Ohtani, 32, has not pitched in a game since July 3. Because he counts as an extra pitcher on the roster, he can essentially build up as a starter in major league games rather than go out on a rehab assignment, a quirk the Dodgers took advantage of as he was making his return from a second elbow surgery last summer.
If Ohtani returns Sunday, he would be lined up for five starts before the end of the regular season, providing him a reasonable chance to take on the workload of a traditional starting pitcher by October. With Ohtani, Glasnow, Skubal, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers would then boast five front-line starters for the playoffs, a scenario that could prompt Glasnow to pitch out of the bullpen, like he did during last year's National League Division Series.
But those decisions are still a ways out.
First, the Dodgers need to ensure Ohtani no longer has discomfort in his left knee.
"Right now," Roberts said Wednesday before the Dodgers' game in Atlanta, "I don't think anyone knows how any day looks until he throws that bullpen on Friday."
Skubal will be returning to Detroit to pitch against the organization that took a chance on him in the ninth round of the 2018 draft and developed him into a two-time Cy Young Award winner. The start comes just 27 days after the Tigers traded him.
Skubal was noticeably emotional the night of Aug. 1, after saying goodbye to Tigers teammates from the visiting clubhouse in Sacramento. He has hardly been dominant in his four ensuing starts with the Dodgers, but he has pitched effectively while putting up a 3.38 ERA in 24 innings.
Roberts said he believes Skubal has effectively moved on, noting how he has immersed himself with his new team over these last four weeks.
"I think it'll be a lot of gratitude -- a lot of people that are cheering him on," Roberts said of Skubal's reception in Detroit. "Obviously this is something that was not his doing. He did a lot of good things for the city of Detroit. And his best friends are still on that ball club, self-admitted. So, I hope they do the festivities the night after we win on Friday, so the emotion doesn't get to him and he can just kind of enjoy the welcome back."
