So the big news today is that Shohei Ohtani will be tonight's starting pitcher for the Dodgers against the rival Padres. This all despite Dave Roberts saying, just a week or two ago, that the most likely return to the mound for him would be post-ASG. But such is the state of LAD pitching these days. Now he's essentially being slated as an opener tonight and it's highly likely he only goes one inning. But it's not like they were about to send him out on a rehab stint in the minors since that would rob them of their best hitter so this sounds like a good way to break him in. It will be his first game on the mound since ditching that other SoCal team for the Dodgers at a rate of $16.85/hr for the next decade or so before finally collecting, like, $10 billion in deferred cash during the 2040's The Dodgers, still two games behind the Mets despite our lost weekend, lead the Giants by 2.0 games, the Pads by 3.0, the DBacks (now 36-35) by 6.5 and the Rox by 137.48 Tonight's other debut will be Giancarlo Stanton for the Yanx as they host the (surprisingly-not-so-terrible) Angels (33-37). And though I may have to investigate further, this might be the first time Stanton and Mike Trout will be on the same field at the same time as Trout has now played every LAA game since returning to action on 5/30. Phils will be slumming in Miami for the next four nights whilst we tangle with the Braves to start the week.