It’s Oct. 21. The Dodgers are clinging to a one-run lead in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. It’s the ninth inning against — let’s say the Philadelphia Phillies with Trea Turner coming to the plate.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts waves to the bullpen and calls in Shohei Ohtani to close it out?

“He’s not pitching for us this year. He’s not,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said.

The Dodgers have been steadfast from the moment they signed Ohtani in December, saying he will not pitch in 2024, no matter how well his rehab from last September’s elbow surgery goes — and all indications are it is going very well.

“We’ve got a lot of good pitchers,” Gomes said of the hypothetical postseason scenario. “There’s no world where he’s pitching for us this postseason.”

Gomes said it is not even a temptation to use Ohtani as a pitcher this year.

“It’s really not, though,” he said. “Because we have a really talented bullpen as it is. It’s not even big picture as much as — what if he pulls an oblique throwing a live BP and then we lose our DH for the postseason? The upside-downside of it is so out of whack on multiple levels that it’s ‘Let’s not even introduce that.’ ”

Ohtani started his throwing program right after the Dodgers returned from South Korea in March and has been making a limited number of throws every other day since. He has extended his long-toss out to 150 feet and is increasing the intensity of his throws recently. The Dodgers training staff closely monitors Ohtani’s throws, even using a small radar gun to gauge the speed of his full-effort throws. They keep that information to themselves but Ohtani is believed to be touching 90 mph during his flat-ground throwing.

Gomes said Ohtani is on track to start throwing off a mound “towards the end of August or into September with some wiggle room — there’s just no rush.”

There is no rush because the Dodgers intend to put Ohtani’s throwing program on hold at some point in the next two months and then discuss an offseason program with Ohtani and Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who performed both of Ohtani’s elbow surgeries) about when and how to pick it back up in order to prepare Ohtani to pitch in 2025.

If Ohtani continued with his throwing progression at his current pace, Gomes said, “basically he would be going through his biggest buildups at the beginning or the middle of October” at the same time he’s hitting in postseason games for the first time in his career.

“It’s not good for the now,” Gomes said. “It’s not good for the long term.”

— Bill Plunkett

Fresh start?

Brock Burke pulled on a new uniform on Wednesday, and he hoped it would be a fresh start for his season.

“It’s definitely been a very down season so far,” said Burke, a left-hander the Angels claimed on waivers Tuesday and added to the active roster on Wednesday. “Hopefully I can end the season on an up, here with the Angels. Have a good end of the year and see what next year gets me, and try not to think about what’s happened in the past too much. Just kind of move forward.”

Burke, 28, had a 9.22 ERA in 13 games with the Texas Rangers this season. He had a 5.31 ERA in Triple-A. His season began with a right hand fracture in April, and he has struggled since he came back in June.

“I just think I need to get out there and pitch,” Burke said. “I haven’t really had much consistency of pitching a lot this year. I haven’t really gotten on a roll. Once I feel good and get on a roll, I think the rest will be history.”

The Angels hope Burke can be the pitcher he was with the Rangers in 2022, when he had a 1.97 ERA in 82 1/3 innings. Last season he had a 4.37 ERA.

“He certainly has been successful at the big-league level, and we’re happy to have him,” Manager Ron Washington said. “I hope he becomes a big part of our bullpen going down the stretch.”

When he was asked what’s been different, Burke couldn’t put his finger on anything.

“This is probably the best my stuff has been my whole career,” he said. “I’ve thrown as hard as I’ve ever thrown, and stuff has been playing really well. Just at times unfortunate things happen. I just need to get out there and sequence things a little better, hit my spots a little better.”

Burke’s fastball has averaged 95.3 mph, which is a tick above the 95.0 mph average in 2022.

There is some statistical evidence to support his assertion that “unfortunate” things have happened.

The expected batting average — calculated based on the quality of contact — against Burke is only .246 this season. In reality, opponents have hit .350 against him.

The expected slugging percentage is .393, but the actual slugging percentage is .600.

His ground ball percentage is 48.9%, which is better than the 39.6% he posted in 2022. The barrel percentage of 6.7% is better than the 7.1% mark in 2022.

If the Angels want to keep Burke beyond this season, they’d just have to offer him arbitration. He’s not eligible for free agency until after the 2026 season.

— Jeff Fletcher

Glasnow pushed back

Right-hander Tyler Glasnow’s turn in the Dodgers’ rotation comes up again today but the club will not start him until Saturday in St. Louis coming off his seven-inning outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates last Sunday.

The Dodgers asked one of their starting pitchers to start on ‘regular rest’ — four days off between starts — a total of only seven times this season. Gavin Stone has done it three times. No one else has done it more than once.

— Bill Plunkett

Judge hits 300th

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge hit his 300th homer, reaching that milestone faster than any other player when he connected against the Chicago White Sox during a 10-2 victory on Wednesday night.

Judge hit the mark in his 955th game and 3,431st at-bat with a three-run drive in the eighth inning, his major league-leading 43rd homer. Ralph Kiner reached 300 homers in his 1,087th game. Babe Ruth did in his 3,831st at-bat.