Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Will Play vs. Yankees in 2024 World Series Game 3 After Injury

The Los Angeles Dodgers can breathe a sigh of relief.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told ESPN's Karl Ravech on Sunday that Shohei Ohtani is "in a great spot and will be playing in Game 3 tomorrow."

Ohtani suffered a shoulder injury during Los Angeles' victory over the New York Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series and exited in the seventh inning. He suffered the injury during a stolen-base attempt and immediately grabbed at his arm.

The injury to the Dodgers star was about the only troubling development for the National League representative during the first two games, as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead by winning each of them at home.

New York will be at home for the next three games starting Monday, and Los Angeles needs to win at least one of them to maintain its momentum and avoid a situation where it would have to sweep all of the home games in the series to win the championship.

Ohtani's expected return is a major boost to those efforts, as he is well on his way to the third MVP of his career and was an unstoppable offensive force in his first season with the team.

He slashed .310/.390/.646 with 54 home runs, 130 RBI and 59 stolen bases and is a major reason Los Angeles is in the World Series.

That he is expected to play Monday isn't particularly surprising given the Saturday update from ESPN's Alden Gonzalez. The initial strength and range-of-motion tests were all encouraging, and he was not wearing any type of protective sleeve when he left Dodger Stadium.

"I'm expecting him to be there," Roberts said. "I'm expecting him to be in the lineup."

Those expectations are still in place, and Los Angeles will look to seize firm control of the series with its best player in the lineup Monday.