MLB giving Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani an inning warmup clock loophole originally appeared on The Sporting News. Click here to add Sports News as your go-to source.
The Fox broadcast captured the weirdness of the moment.
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At the end of the first half of the Los Angeles Dodgers' first inning, Shohei Ohtani was stranded on the bases and had to go to the mound to pitch.
Major League Baseball (MLB) implemented an inning clock. This should count down, and when the countdown reaches zero, the inning should begin.
Except for the first bottom, this was not the case.
More: Blue Jays have to deal with Shohei Ohtani rule, which is unfair to everyone but the Dodgers
Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times breaks it down:
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When Ohtani came to the mound, there were 40 seconds left on the clock.
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The clock was then reset to allow Ohtani to fully warm up.
This seems to have been something that was thought through in advance. Fox analyst John Smoltz also noticed this in Game 4.
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It will be interesting to know if something similar happens with Ohtani during the regular season.
But it was clear in Game 7 that MLB wasn't messing around. Ohtani is about to have his warm-up time. Whether that is fair or not is for others to decide.