The Dodgers have been running on fumes at two of their most important positions for two months, and suddenly both problems look close to solved at the same time. Shohei Ohtani hasn't pitched in a game since July 3 because of lingering left knee discomfort, and Will Smith has been out since June 8 with an inflamed disc in his neck. Now they're both trending toward the same return window, and it's exactly the kind of stacked good news a contender wants in the final stretch.
Ohtani has been building back up quietly, working through a throwing progression that recently had him facing live hitters. There's no hard return date yet, but the realistic target being floated is sometime in the first half of September — which lines up with the Dodgers wanting him fully stretched out before the postseason picture tightens. For a team that's leaned on his two-way production all year, getting the pitching half of Shohei Ohtani back changes the calculus of their entire rotation.
Smith's absence has been just as costly. What started as an expected short-term stint on the injured list turned into a two-month-plus grind for the Dodgers' All-Star catcher. According to manager Dave Roberts, Smith is set to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on August 25, giving him game reps before a hoped-for return to the big league roster in the first week of September — conveniently around when rosters expand.
Neither guy is a small piece to plug back in. Ohtani signed his record 10-year, $700 million deal to be a true two-way weapon, not just a bat, and the Dodgers have essentially been playing this stretch with only half of him available. Smith, meanwhile, is the everyday backstop and one of the more underrated bats in that lineup — losing him for two months is the kind of thing that quietly erodes a season if it drags on much longer.
None of this is confirmed for a specific game yet, and both timelines could still slide. But having Ohtani back on the mound and Smith back behind the plate within the same couple of weeks would be about as good a September jolt as the Dodgers could ask for, right when the betting markets and the standings both start to matter a lot more.