The amount of time Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani was given between innings became a point of contention in Game 7. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

Before a knockout blow came a chorus of boos. Shohei Ohtani’s two-way prowess has already forced Major League Baseball to revise its rulebook, adding provisions to protect his ability to pitch and hit in the same game.

Saturday night, on the sport’s biggest stage, Ohtani’s one-of-a-kind existence drew some scorn. Boos rained down upon him before the third inning of Game 7, when umpires allowed Ohtani to throw warmup pitches after the 2-minute, 55-second clock between innings had elapsed.

Umpires had already allowed it in the first inning, when Ohtani ended the top half of the frame on third base and took the mound with just 40 seconds left on the clock. Blue Jays manager John Schneider spoke with home-plate umpire Jordan Baker after the inning and, an inning later, discussed the matter with crew chief Mark Wegner.

“We know he gets extra time and it was a little bit egregious, we thought,” Schneider told the Fox broadcast during the fourth inning.

“We get that there’s extra time kind of baked in there when he’s either at the plate … . We were just talking about the time in between innings.”

As Schnieder intimated, Ohtani’s warmup pitches are allowed. Umpires are allowed to provide extra time for pitchers to warm up “if warranted by special circumstances.” Ohtani, obviously, suffices. So would the absence of a catcher who required more time to put on his gear after making the third out of an inning.

Ohtani made the third out of the third inning Saturday. He emerged with 16 seconds left on the clock and did not pick up the baseball until five seconds remained. Still, umpires allowed him to throw warmup pitches. Television cameras showed Schneider tapping at the watch on his wrist before throwing his arms up in apparent anger.

Fox rules analyst Mark Carlson, himself a major-league umpire, told the broadcast “as a pitcher, if he ends the inning at bat, on base or on deck, he gets the discretion of the umpires to allow him to have the appropriate time to pitch.”

After being allowed to throw the warmup pitches, Ohtani faced the top of Toronto’s order a second time. Leadoff man George Springer struck an elevated sweeper for a single. Nathan Lukes sacrificed Springer to second base before Ohtani intentionally walked slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Up strolled cleanup man Bo Bichette. Ohtani started him with a slider, one of the secondary pitches Ohtani struggled to command throughout his outing. The pitch did not break. Bichette bludgeoned it for a three-run home run, bringing Dodgers manager Dave Roberts from the dugout to remove Ohtani amid delirium.

One inning later, Schnieder could show a wry smile while discussing the situation.

“I guess we don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Schneider said. “He’s out of the game.”

Nov 2, 2025

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Chandler Rome is a Staff Writer for The Athletic covering the Houston Astros. Before joining The Athletic, he covered the Astros for five years at the Houston Chronicle. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Follow Chandler on Twitter @Chandler_Rome