Contrary to Popular Belief, the Angels Are Not the Reason Shohei Ohtani Got Hurt

Let's stop with the blame game..

Whenever any star-level player suffers an injury, the first thing that most people do is try to justify why it happened. The blame game begins because people want some logical answer as to why things happen.

But the reality is that injuries are just an unfortunate part of sports. They come at the worst time, and accepting that can go a long way.

So when the news broke that Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani had suffered another torn UCL, almost immediately the entire baseball world started to point fingers at the Angels organization.

But if you look closer, it in fact wasn’t their fault, and it couldn’t have been avoided.

You will recall the Angels had pretty tight control over Shohei Ohtani's workload in 2018-20, and he still got hurt.

So going into 2021, they allowed Ohtani to be in charge.

Here's a look back to how that happened, which seems particularly relevant now... pic.twitter.com/BXCDut4aVO

— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 25, 2023

Ohtani had been dealing with some arm fatigue as the season went on, but he wanted to continue playing through everything. According to General Manager Perry Minasian, Ohtani never complained about any pain. When the injury was found, it was the first time that he felt anything other than some fatigue.

Ohtani is the ultimate competitor and wanted the final say in how this injury was handled. He wanted to be out there for his team, helping them try to win at any cost. That’s just who he is as a teammate and baseball player.

The Angels couldn’t have avoided this injury, things just happen. It is fair to say that maybe they should have rested him more, but it’s tough to sit your star-level player down when they want to play.

Enough of blaming the organization for what happened. Nobody wants to see any player get hurt, let alone the face of the game. And for the Angels, they would rather he be out on the mound helping them try to climb back into contention.

We can all hope that the injury isn’t too serious and surgery can be avoided. That would be the best-case scenario, and we then are able to see him return to the mound next season.