Shohei Ohtani scratched from start after traffic issue forced Angels players to take BART train to stadium
Los Angeles Angels fans experienced a few seconds of panic Thursday. News broke that star two-way player Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start against the Oakland Athletics. Considering Ohtani's velocity was down his last time out, fans feared the worst for the new AL MVP favorite.
That fear proved to be unfounded. Ohtani is completely healthy, and will serve as the designated hitter during Thursday's game. So, why didn't Ohtani start? He — and a bunch of his teammates — were late to Oakland Coliseum after a car crash forced the Angels to use public transportation.
There was an accident on the Bay Bridge, so the #Angels team bus couldn't make it to Oakland. So they had to take the BART but there was an issue there, too. Ohtani didn't have enough time to get ready for his start so it's pushed back to tomorrow.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 28, 2021
The team bus reportedly got stuck in traffic after there was a car crash on the Bay Bridge. As a result, Angels players hopped on the BART — a public transit system in the Bay Area — and used that to get to the stadium.
The Angels apparently told reporters the team had an issue on the BART, but the transit system's Twitter account disputed that part of the story.
First, wow, what an honor to host a baseball superstar like Shohei Ohtani on BART.
We did not experience any issues on our end. We confirmed with Operations Control Center there was no delay for any Coliseum-heading train during the Bay Bridge incident. https://t.co/Ve3E4McdlJ— SFBART (@SFBART) May 28, 2021
The players arrived to Oakland Coliseum later than usual, and Ohtani didn't have enough time to go through his normal starting pitcher preparation, leading to him being scratched.
Ohtani will serve as the starting pitcher for Friday's game against the Athletics.
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