Dodgers News: Dustin May Piggybacking Ohtani Tonight Could Be a Sign of his Role Moving Forward
LOS ANGELES, CA— The Los Angeles Dodgers are just three days removed from the 2025 Major League Baseball All-Star break, but they’ve begun their start to manage the workload of their pitchers for the Dog Days of summer, starting off with Dustin May.
May 27 has had an injury-plagued career thus far in Dodger Blue. A former top prospect with explosive stuff has undergone two Tommy John surgeries and a life-threatening esophagus injury since making his debut in 2019.
However, after multiple stints on the injured list and years missed, May was finally eager to not only win a spot in the Dodgers’ Opening Day rotation but set career highs in innings pitched.
Well, May has done that and more for the Dodgers this season, pitching the second most innings behind fellow right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto with 94.1 total innings.
However, while May has been healthy this season, he has also battled with inconsistencies during the first half of the season, posting a 4.96 ERA, 4.78 FIP, and 1.35 WHIP across seventeen starts.
With each inning May takes the ball, he’s increasing his career high total, which has prompted many around the team to ask whether the Dodgers will start to monitor his workload moving forward.
However, before the break, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated that, despite the innings, May would likely remain in the starting rotation.
“I think right now, he’s going to stay in the same role as a starter when we start the second half,” Roberts said.
However, tonight, May will not start the game; instead, he’ll follow Shohei Ohtani, who is expected to toss three innings in his first start post-break.
“A little combo,” Roberts stated when asked if the team has begun the process of monitoring May’s workload by having him relieve Ohtani, or if it’s simply how the rotation lined up coming out of the All-Star break.
“This is a one-off, and it’s probably not going to be Dustin the next time. It’s just kind of building around Shohei as he continues to build up.”
The plan could offer a glimpse into May’s future role with Los Angeles, especially with the return of left-hander Blake Snell on the horizon.
For the first time since the start of the season, the Dodgers’ starting rotation is set to be healthy with Yamamoto, Kershaw, Glasnow, Ohtani, and now Snell set to be active.
This could force May to either shift to the bullpen, like many fans have wanted, or place him as the team’s unofficial sixth starter/bulk inning man.
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