Dodgers fire back at Cubs manager Craig Counsell over criticism of 'bizarre' Shohei Ohtani rule

Dave Roberts joins Colin Cowherd on The Herd to discuss managing Shohei Ohtani, the greatest player in baseball, and what he brings to the Los Angeles Dodgers both on and off the field.

One of the more unexpected storylines in the early portion of the 2026 Major League Baseball season has been the complaints from opposing managers about Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani. 

Ohtani, you might remember, started his career with the Los Angeles Angels in 2018. While with the Angels, he was a two-way player who both pitched and hit. The league, attempting to ensure that the additional value of a two-way player, particularly the most marketable and talented two-way player, would be properly recognized, enacted a rule ensuring that any two-way player would be able to stay in the game as a designated hitter after exiting as a pitcher. 

Essentially, treating that player as two separate entities. To use Ohtani as an example, Ohtani the hitter, and Ohtani the pitcher. That rule was put in place in 2019 to create a template for him or any other two-way players that emerge. 

Then, in 2022, when MLB moved to 26 players, and enacted roster restrictions, 13 pitchers and 13 hitters, in order to maintain the importance of starting pitching, they set up another rule that meant designated two-way players who met certain criteria would not count against the maximum number of pitchers allowed on a roster. This, again, was enacted when Ohtani was with the Angels. 

For some reason, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell decided to criticize these years-old rules in April 2026. And in a new interview, one of the Dodgers’ top executives addressed Counsell’s comments and didn’t seem too pleased with them.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei