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It goes without saying that being a unicorn, Shohei Ohtani certainly benefits from “exceptions”.
Major League Baseball allows 13 pitchers on a roster, but the Los Angeles Dodgers, including Ohtani, have 14. That’s because Ohtani is officially listed as a two-way player and not a pitcher.
During a game in Philadelphia on Monday, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell was asked about the 13-pitcher rule when, without provocation, he suggested that the Dodgers and Ohtani would receive “special consideration.”
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Los Angeles Dodgers two-way baseman Shohei Ohtani (17) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning of Game 4 of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
“It’s a rule to make it easier to attack, I think, more than anything, if you ask me,” Counsell said. “And then there’s a team that’s allowed to carry basically one of the two, and gets special consideration. Which is probably the weirdest rule… For a team.”
The two-way player designation is for players with at least 20 innings pitched in the major leagues and at least 20 starts in the big leagues as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games. The player must achieve these numbers in the current season or one of the two most recent seasons.
The designation took effect for the 2020 season. Ohtani, 31, is the only current player who meets the criteria.
Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after hitting a single against the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning during game two of the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Center. (Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images)
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“There’s no other player like that, but a team has different rules for that player,” Counsell said.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, however, defended the rule and noted that it was available to everyone.
“The fact is it certainly benefits us, because we have the player,” Roberts said in Colorado. “But it’s something that any team that had Ohtani would have that player.”
“We’re more than willing for other teams to find a player who can do both. He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player. That’s how it is.”
At the start of the 2022 season, months after Ohtani’s day was cut short after pitching only a third of an inning while leading off, Major League Baseball established a rule that if a starting pitcher was in the lineup at bat, he could remain in the lineup even after being removed from the mound as a two-way designated player.
Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a home run in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 27, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
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During the World Series and even earlier this month, Ohtani drew attention for seemingly longer warm-up sessions on the mound because he had been on the base paths.
