Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani Sends Clayton Kershaw Message Amid Big Change

The Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to have solved their biggest weakness from a championship run last year.

After relying heavily on their bullpen with several key starters sidelined by injury last year, the Dodgers have seen the rotation become their biggest strength following the addition of Blake Snell and healthy returns to the mound from Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw.

In the latest sign of just how fearsome the Dodgers' starting staff has become, Ohtani completed five innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday as the team logged a franchise record 19 total strikeouts. The outing also featured a big change from Ohtani since his return to pitching.

"Ohtani hardly used either his curveball or his splitter in his initial return to big-league games," Fabian Ardaya noted for The Athletic. "Until Wednesday, when he made a point of using both."

Ohtani threw a career-most 23 curveballs on Wednesday, a significant indication of his return to full strength as a pitcher. And as Ohtani works his way back to top form on the mound, he sent some kudos to Kershaw, whose own journey back to starting status has been a help to the two-way superstar's evolution as a pitcher.

"I really learn a lot (from him)," Ohtani said of his future Hall of Fame teammate, "especially on the days that he starts."

Though things could change in the final weeks before the playoffs, the Dodgers could have more than enough competent starting arms in the rotation. Between Ohtani, Kershaw, Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan, the starting staff seems to be in much better shape than it was in their last championship season.