Cubs manager says Shohei Ohtani gets special MLB two-way roster rule treatment

It goes without saying that by being a unicorn, Shohei Ohtani certainly gets “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, not a pitcher.

During a game in Philadelphia on Monday, Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell was asked about the 13-pitcher rule when, unprovoked, hinted at the Dodgers and Ohtani getting a “special consideration.”

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Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani (17) pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays in the fifth inning during Game 4 of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)

“It’s a rule to help offense, I think, more than anything, if you ask me,” Counsell said. “And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and that he gets special consideration. Which is probably the most bizarre rule. … For one team.”

The two-way player designation is for players with at least 20 innings pitched in the major leagues and at least 20 big league starts as a position player or designated hitter, with at least three plate appearances in each of those games. The player has to reach those numbers in the current or any one of the two most recent seasons.

The designation went into effect for the 2020 season. The 31-year-old Ohtani 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 Centre. (Dan Hamilton/Imagn Images)

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“There’s not another player like that, but one team gets different rules for that player,” said Counsell.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, however, defended the rule and noted that it’s available to everyone.

“The thing is, it certainly benefits us, because we have the player,” Roberts said in Colorado. “But that’s something that, any team that had Ohtani would have that player.”

“We’re more than willing for other teams to go out and find a player who can do both. He’s an exception because he’s an exceptional player. It is what it is.”

Entering the 2022 season, months after Ohtani’s day was cut short after pitching just one-third of an inning while hitting leadoff, Major League Baseball made a rule so that if a starting pitcher was in the batting lineup, he could stay in the lineup even after being taken out of the mound as a designated two-way player.

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a home run during the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays in game three of the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 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 brought attention to seemingly longer warmup sessions on the mound because he had been on the basepaths.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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