Footage shows security forces dispersing crowds with tear gas at rallies for Ugandan presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, in Kampala. The pop star-turned-politician is campaigning ahead of Uganda’s January 2026 elections, as officials warn against interference.
Published On 22 Dec 202522 Dec 2025
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Steph Sarah recalls a time in Venice Beach’s mythical skateboarding history — long before the sandy expanse on Ocean Front Walk became the world-famous skate park, a concrete playground where pro skaters are born.
“It was all boys,” says Sarah, a 36-year-old Venice Beach native who learned to skate at age 12. “If you did come across another girl skating, they were your competition, because there wasn’t even enough room for one girl to skate, let alone multiple girls.”
The group welcomes all skill levels and jokes that they’re the “world’s okay-est skaters.” (Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Times)
On this Thursday night, that is distant history. As fog rolls in over the Venice Pier, Sarah skates alongside dozens of women on the coastal path. They belt out the lyrics to “Hey Jude” as singer Chloe Kat serenades them with a guitar in hand. Curious fishermen eye them, their fishing lines cast into the black ocean. But they pay no attention. Twirling under the moonlight, the women resemble a witch’s coven — their spells are good vibes, California weather and the boards beneath their feet.
Since its inception in 2018, GrlSwirl has been a leading force in creating a more inclusive skateboarding culture in Venice Beach — and across the world. The Venice Beach-based organization fosters community among female skateboarders. Twice a month, the group hosts nighttime “group skates” for women and community members. The event has exploded on social media, often attracting over 100 participants on warm summer nights.
“You get to witness what it’s like for people to break all the rules and show up fully as themselves,” Lucy Osinski, one of the co-founders of GrlSwirl, says of the group skates. “The weirder, the sillier, the more authentic, the better.”
Participants dodge a parking barrier gate during a nighttime group skate.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Times)
Growing up in the world of professional ballet with its restrictive body standards and intense discipline, Osinski found newfound freedom in skateboarding. “I went from feeling so fragile and weak to so powerful,” she says. “It made me feel like I belonged and liberated in a way I had never experienced before.”
But when she moved to Venice Beach in 2017, skateboarding as a woman invited hostile attention. “Every time I would skate, people would catcall us or yell at us to do a kickflip,” she says. (“Do a kickflip” is considered a skateboarding taunt.) “I started chasing down any girl I saw on a skateboard. I made a text chain. I called it GrlSwirl.”
Osinski began posting about group skates on Instagram, where GrlSwirl gained traction. “The next week, 20 girls showed up just from word of mouth, and then the next week 40, and then the next 60, and then we had over 100 girls.” Soon, the group’s reputation attracted brand sponsorships and inquiries about starting chapters in new cities.
Today, the organization also doubles as a nonprofit that teaches underprivileged communities to skate worldwide, including surf-skate retreats that empower women and girls. Osinski explains that GrlSwirl has hosted skateboarding clinics from refugee camps in Tijuana to the first-ever women’s skate jam in the Navajo Nation. GrlSwirl has an international following with chapters in more than seven cities and an online community spanning 80 countries.
Lindsey Klucik, left, dances with friends to Christmas songs at the Venice Pier during a GrlSwirl group skate.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Times)
Lucy Osinski rolls in with a skateboarding move.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Times)
“Everything we’ve done from Day 1 is to make spaces and find ways to build community through skateboarding,” says Osinski. “People want to be in a village, but they don’t know how to be a villager. GrlSwirl is the village.”
The popularity of the bimonthly group skates has even attracted out-of-towners curious about the event. Osinski says the event has drawn tourists from Japan, Russia and more. Traveling from Salzburg, Austria, Karoline Bauer joined the skate with her partner while on vacation after following them on Instagram. “We were just looking for some community. We don’t have that back home,” Bauer says.
The group skate welcomes skateboarders of all skill levels. As a motto, the group jokes that they’re the “world’s okay-est skaters.” “We’re not looking for people to be shredding like crazy,” says Naomi Fulta, a team rider for GrlSwirl. “We have people who come here who literally have never stepped on a skateboard, to people who’ve been skating their whole lives.”
Yuka Okamura has been attending GrlSwirl’s group skates with her 10-year-old daughter for over five years. To her surprise, Okamura began learning to skateboard when her daughter started taking lessons. “I had no idea that I would start something new after I had a child. It’s amazing to share the joy and the experience with her,” she explains.
Yaya Ogun, a GrlSwirl team rider, poses with the group.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Times)
For Yaya Ogun, one of the team riders, group skates are an opportunity to build community and make friends. Skateboarding naturally lends itself to community, she explains. Ogun attended her first GrlSwirl event alone and now rides as a sponsored skater. “You have to go someplace physical, you’re gonna meet people, you’re gonna make friends,” she says.
Ogun is a self-proclaimed pandemic skater. “There’s a huge wave of us who started either during or after the pandemic,” she says. “I grew up wanting to skate, but I just never had the time. And then all of a sudden, I had a lot of time,” she says with a laugh.
As a transplant from Texas, Ogun was drawn to GrlSwirl because the organization is anchored in the local community, which has experienced rent hikes and the closure of local institutions in recent years. “This is a special place, and it’s changing a lot,” laments Ogun. “We want to respect it and raise it up and not change anything.”
Osinski credits GrlSwirl’s success to its birthplace, Venice Beach, a place that celebrates uniqueness and community. Venice is a mecca for skateboarding, home to the Z-boys who revolutionized the sport in the 1970s and the subject of the documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys.”
GrlSwirl aims to inspire people to “come together through the simple act of trying something new.”
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones/For The Times)
“Venice is a place of creation. You don’t have to look like a Venice skater to be a Venice skater. It’s about growing up and giving back,” Osinski says.
The girls skate into the evening, the sunset casting an orange light onto their smiling faces. Ogun declares her contempt for longboards — not to mention penny skateboards, which she says are a death trap. In the distance, waves carry surfers to the shore after their last surf of the day. As darkness falls on Venice Beach, the promise of something new swells.
A different type of British invasion had EDM fans in a trance at the Queen Mary in Long Beach.
Armed with turntables, social media-star-turned-professional-party-starter Fish56Octagon made his U.S. festival debut Nov. 21 and 22 at Insomniac’s Dreamstate SoCal, where he performed alongside some of the world’s most preeminent electronic artists, including Tiësto, Paul Oakenfold, Gareth Emery, Ferry Corsten and Chicane.
Fish, as he’s called, is a 46-year-old from the London suburbs who joined TikTok on a drunken whim after being introduced to the app by friends in 2021. Now boasting over a million followers across platforms, he’s seen his life flip because of that choice — quitting a full-time marketing career to become a DJ, produce music and play sets at some of the world’s biggest music festivals in the four years since he uploaded his first video.
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Though his initial post was about his watch collection, the self-described “petrol head” quickly went deep into creating content about cars and made a successful side hustle within a couple years. Crossover between auto enthusiasts and the music lovers in his audience meant the dance songs he used to soundtrack his car videos and sporadic vinyl-haul unboxings spawned passionate discussion in the comments about the classic rave songs Fish was sharing with the world.
He also benefited from an accidental, scroll-stopping visual hook repeated across videos born from his employer asking him to ensure it didn’t look like he was posting during business hours: middle-aged, thin and bald, dropping dad moves in front of his sprawling Technics decks and pumping his fists to the beat between bites of Weetabix biscuits, all while wearing a red and black dressing gown (what Americans would call a robe), gifted to Fish’s wife by his mother.
Screen shot of Fish DJing on TikTok in his bathrobe
(TikTok)
“That gown is elegant,” wrote a fan in the comments.
“It was legit my mum’s but she found it too hot,” Fish responded.
“You the same build as your mum” another person wrote back, punctuating the comment with a sweating smiley face emoji.
Fish also began to livestream on TikTok late into the night, playing his own mixes for the first time in 20 years.
“I remember seeing people commenting on the Live going, ‘Mate, we were watching you before we went out. We’ve just gone on a whole night out in our city, come back and you’re still here playing,’” Fish said. “I just love it. Sharing and being able to get out those obscure records. Sometimes it’s the big anthems everyone knows and sometimes it’s a tune that was an anthem to me.”
He’s had a decades-long education in electronic music. Fish was introduced to the genre on the cusp of his teen years through an episode of the British detective show “Inspector Morse.” One episode took place in the illegal rave scene and he thought it looked like fun to party in an old warehouse.
Fish’s taste quickly developed by listening to pirate radio and vinyl. He pieced together his first setup with two hi-fi record players his dad had in the attic. Only one had pitch control. He learned to beatmatch by plugging a player into each side of his amplifier and using the balance knob to fade between them. He was given Soundlab DLP-1 belt-driven turntables for his birthday and his obsession accelerated over the next several years.
Fish56Octagon performing at the Dreamstate music festival in Long Beach.
(Niyaz Pirani)
“By then I was just spending every penny that I had on vinyl building my record collection up. It was all rave music, early old school, hardcore jungle, and then happy hardcore, drum and bass around that sort of time, early to mid-’90s,” he said. “I played quite a few house parties.”
He became a de-facto resident DJ in college, spinning vinyl in the student union, and dabbled in music production at the same time. He eventually sold his analog kit and synthesizers when he switched to Ableton. He downsized his record collection as he converted them to MP3s.
The demands of his post-college marketing career meant the DJ dream disappeared for many years. That was until his TikTok Live sets gave him a second chance as club promoters reached out in the hope of booking him. Fish admits a lack of confidence caused him to stay on the sidelines. It was an offer in February 2024 to play a solo show at Hidden in Manchester — about the same time he switched his channel over entirely to music — that got him out of his house and onto a stage.
“Even if I wasn’t sure that people would come, I knew that anyone that did come would be coming to see me,” he said. “ … I ended up putting a night on where I played for five hours straight, just me from the start to the end. When the tickets went on sale, it sold out a good couple of months before the event.”
Fish wondered if it was a one-off event or the beginning of a life-changing run. Then the offers came in from other big U.K. cities — FishTales in Newcastle; acid techno at Beaverworks in Leeds; raves in Liverpool and Birmingham. He hired an agent. Dropped some merch.
“Not sure how this happened! But I’m here for it and hope you are too,” he wrote online.
A 20-date summer tour featured three different sets at the famed Glastonbury Festival, and appearances at Reading and Creamfields. He also traveled to Ireland, Scotland and Malta, marking his first time playing professionally outside of England.
He quit his day job in August 2024 to DJ and focus on music production full time with the support of his wife, children and parents.
“They support me even though it comes at a cost that I can’t always spend as much time with them, but they understand that I’m following my dream, following my passion, and doing something positive,” he said.
He’s gained an appreciation as a historian of the genre. Fish’s followers have grown to include Skrillex, David Guetta, Disclosure, Bicep and more of the artists he has admired and now counts among his peers.
“For about the first year, I often would wake up in the morning — I’m gonna get a little bit emotional just talking about this — but I’d wake up in the morning and just think, ‘Wow, that was all a dream, wasn’t it?” he said. “Then I look at my phone. I can see that actually it was real.”
Fish attributes his success to social media, though he said it’s a mistake to think just having social media followers guarantees bookings and the upward trajectory of one’s career.
“They’re actually a function of each other. It’s because I was making content that proved to be popular about music that I managed to build up a following and have those opportunities come my way,” he said. “I’ve now played, getting on for, 200 professional gigs at various clubs, festivals, events, raves, all around the world.”
Fish waited until November 2025 to make his first trek to North America with an 11-date run featuring his first U.S. festival booking. He chose Dreamstate because he’s always had a special place in his heart for trance and the emotional connection people have with the music.
“I love all dance music, but trance is the one that can kind of tug at your heartstrings a bit with those melodies, and the chord progression, and the way that the beats can be so crisp when they come in, and the way the bass hits,” he said.
Fish performed Friday night on “The Vision.” It’s the same stage played by legends Chicane and Paul Oakenfold this year and Darude last. He also co-headlined an hour-long B2B with Night 1 Dreamstate headliner Gareth Emery early Sunday morning, as the top-billed act for the festival’s afterparty in the Grand Salon of the iconic Queen Mary.
He made his way to LAX after stepping off stage at 3 a.m. to fly to New York and play the last three hours of a 24-hour rave.
Chicane and Fish56Octagon run into each other in the lobby of the Long Beach Hilton after playing the same stage Night 1 of Dreamstate.
(Niyaz Pirani)
Fish has tour dates in New Zealand and Australia toward the end of the year, plus the largest show of his career March 28 at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. He’s also releasing music for himself and others under his record label Octagon Discs.
As his audience multiplies, Fish’s earliest followers remain enthralled by his seemingly infinite rise.
“How did the dude who recommends second-hand cars get to this. So happy for you dude,” one fan wrote in the comments of his Dreamstate recap video post.
“Music was my number 1 passion but i thought I was too old. Thanks for the support bro,” Fish replied.
“Amazing,” another chimed in. “But I would not recognize u in the wild without the bathrobe.”
LA28 announced the next step in its ticketing plan for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday as ticket registration will open on Jan. 14.
Fans can start registering for tickets on Jan. 14 at la28.org, and the registration will remain open until March 18. All who sign up will be entered into a random draw to receive a time slot to purchase tickets. While registering, fans will enter their zip codes, and those who live in the Los Angeles and Oklahoma City areas near venues will be eligible to access the first time slots reserved for locals.
“The goal there is to make sure that we’re getting tickets into the hands, not just the fans, but of the local fans,” said Allison Katz-Mayfield, LA28’s senior vice president of Games delivery revenue. “Those that are going to be closest to the Games, really helping us host these Games in some ways.”
The 2028 Olympics will feature the largest Games schedule in history, with 36 sports and 11,198 athletes. The majority of the Games will be held in L.A., including major sports zones in downtown, Exposition Park and the Sepulveda Basin, but cities including Carson, Inglewood and Long Beach will also have multiple venues. Oklahoma City will host the softball and canoe slalom events at existing facilities.
LA28 is still finalizing the duration of each purchasing window, although the plan is to have multiple opportunities per day, so fans would be assigned time slots that are open for several hours. Tickets for a variety of events will be available during each drop in 2026, with single-event tickets beginning at $28. When tickets for the Paralympics go on sale in 2027, the system will be similar and fans will not have to re-register their interest.
While the Olympics will be back in L.A. for the third time in 2028, it will be the first time the city is hosting the Paralympics.
LA28 plans to release 14 million tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics. The total would be a Games record, eclipsing the 12 million sold in Paris, where ticket sales began almost a year after the timeline LA28 is currently using. The Paris Games that opened in July 2024 did not begin ticket registration until November 2022, 20 months before the event.
Fans will have two-and-a-half years to register and purchase tickets before L.A. opens the Olympics on July 14, 2028.
The UCLA gymnastics team offered fans a sneak peek of what can be expected during the 2026 season at its annual Meet the Bruins event Saturday.
The Bruins are coming off a runner-up finish at the NCAA championships and a sweep of the Big Ten regular season and conference titles.
Bar routines have been an area of growth for UCLA during the past season, and the team is shaping up to have better depth. The gymnasts have been pushing each other to improve, and UCLA coach Janelle McDonald is pleased with the progress.
UCLA gymnast Jordan Chiles, center, fires up teammates during the Meet the Bruins exhibition on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, at Pauley Pavilion.
(Dylan Petrossian/UCLA Athletics)
“Really excited about where we are at on bars,” McDonald said. ”I feel like it can be a great event for us and just really working on the consistency of the details right now.”
There are skills the Bruins want to clean up and tighten before the first meet of the new season in January, including sharper execution and landings.
“There were a couple of uncharacteristic things that we don’t typically see in practice, people that are really consistent with sticking and having steps,” McDonald said after the Meet the Bruins exhibition.
The seniors say they are focused on adding routines and events, emphasizing learning, growing and pushing themselves in their final year.
“I feel like both Ciena [Alipio] and Maddie [Anyimi] have had that mentality all summer long to really be able to come into the preseason and make a statement. It was great to see them out there in different events and to see them perform so confidently,” McDonald said.
Sophomore Macy McGowan did not perform on floor due to an injury and has been working throughout the offseason, building back each week to get stronger.
Jordan Chiles showed off her Prince themed floor routine for the final time and will replace it with something new during the competition season.
“I am really excited to do this floor routine,” said Chiles, who was a finalist on “Dancing with the Stars” during the offseason. ”We’ve already started and honestly, I’m like, ‘This is not Jordan. I’ve done the cutesy, I’ve done the hip-hop, I’ve done all those things and this is more the passionate, confident last era of being a Bruin.’”
Freshman Ashlee Sullivan stepped onto the Pauley Pavillion floor for the first time and has been adjusting to the transition from elite competition to collegiate gymnastics.
“When I came here, we were already hitting the ground running,” Sullivan said. “Like everyone looked so good. The team looked competition ready. Feeding off of that, everyone … pushes me to be [the] best I can.”
Tiana Sumanasekera, Nola Matthews, Jordis Eichman, Kai Mattei, Ava Callahan and Sullivan joined the roster this season, bringing a wide variety of skills to the UCLA lineup.
The 2026 season begins Jan. 3, when the Bruins will compete against Washington, California and Oregon State.
Tom McArthurand
Ilma Hasan
ReutersAngry fans attending Lionel Messi’s tour of India ripped up seats and threw items towards the pitch after his appearance at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium.
Thousands of adoring supporters had paid up to 12,000 rupees (£100; $133) to catch a glimpse of the football star, but were left disappointed when he emerged to walk around the pitch, and was obscured by a large group of officials and celebrities.
When the Argentina and Inter Miami forward was whisked away early by security after around 20 minutes, elements of the crowd turned hostile.
West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee said she was “deeply disturbed and shocked” by the events.
Messi is in India for his ‘GOAT tour’, a series of promotional events in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and New Delhi.
His tour began with the unveiling of a 70ft statue of himself in Kolkata, which had been assembled over the course of 27 days by a 45-strong crew.
It was unveiled virtually due to security reasons, meaning thousands of fans instead travelled to the city’s stadium for a chance to see the footballer.
They were chanting, buying jerseys and wearing “I love Messi” headbands.
Messi initially walked around the stadium waving to fans, but after his appearance was abruptly ended on Saturday, frustrated fans stormed the pitch and vandalised banners and tents, as others hurled plastic chairs and water bottles.
The 2022 World Cup winner – considered one of football’s greatest players of all time – had been expected to play a short exhibition game at the stadium, the AFP news agency reports.
Reuters
Reuters“Only leaders and actors were surrounding Messi … Why did they call us then … We have got a ticket for 12 thousand rupees, but we were not even able to see his face”, a fan at the stadium told Indian news agency ANI.
One angry fan told the Press Trust of India news agency people had paid the equivalent of a month’s salary to see the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.
“I paid Rs 5,000 for the ticket and came with my son to watch Messi not politicians.
“The police and military personnel were taking selfies, and the management is to blame.”
ReutersKolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and has a large football fanbase in an otherwise cricket-crazed country.
In the city, it is common to see hundreds of thousands of fans gather at stadiums at a derby of local clubs.
ReutersAnnouncing an enquiry, Banerjee apologised to Messi and “sports lovers” for the incident at the stadium.
“The [enquiry] committee will conduct a detailed enquiry into the incident, fix responsibility, and recommend measures to prevent such occurrences in the future,” she said on X.
In the early hours of Saturday, thousands lined the roads and congregated outside the hotel where Messi was staying to try and catch a glimpse of him.
Hitesh, a 24-year-old corporate lawyer, flew nearly 1,900 kilometres from the south Indian city of Bengaluru.
“For me it’s personal. You can see I am quite short, and I love to play football with my friends,” Hitesh told the BBC, standing in front of the statue.
“Messi is the player I related with the most, no one can match his talent. He gives me hope that with talent you can do anything.”
It is just a small part of India’s homage to the former Barcelona and Paris St-Germain forward.
Fans can visit ‘Hola Messi’ fan zone where there is a life-sized replica Messi sat on a throne, a hall adorned with some of his trophies and a recreation of his Miami home complete with mannequins of the player and his family sat on a balcony.
MODEL Emily Ratajkowski looks fab-yule-ous as she poses in a red dress for a festive event.
The 34-year-old wore the minidress, tights and heels at the event for hair brand Kérastase in New York on Thursday evening.
Emily was recently seen on a date with singer Dua Lipa’s ex, Romain Gavras.
They were spotted last month kissing during a romantic winter stroll through New York City.
Emily was recently linked to Elvis star Austin Butler after the pair enjoyed an evening of cocktails together.
She has a four-year-old son Sylvester Apollo Bear, who she shares with her ex-husband Sebastian Bear-McClard.
READ MORE EMILY RATAJKOWSKI
Emily finalized her divorce with the film producer, who faced a slew of sexual misconduct allegations, in July, after filing for divorce in September 2022.
Emily recently bared her soul about how she suffered from self-doubt.
She revealed how writing her 2021 memoir My Body had sparked feelings of inadequacy.
The model explained: “I had imposter syndrome.”
ORLANDO, Fla. — The 2026 World Baseball Classic begins in less than three months.
Between now and then, the Dodgers will have to have some “delicate” conversations with their star trio of Japanese pitchers.
As of now, Dodgers front-office officials said at this week’s winter meetings, no final decisions have been made about whether Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki will participate in the tournament, nor if Shohei Ohtani (who has already confirmed his participation) will pitch in addition to hitting.
“We’re still working through that,” said president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, who met with Team Japan manager Hirokazu Ibata at the Signia by Hilton Orlando this week.
“We’re very supportive of Samurai Japan and all that they’re trying to accomplish, and they’re very supportive of us,” Friedman added. “It was about just keeping open the lines of communication, the mutual respect and working together to help all sides.”
What would be most helpful to the Dodgers, of course, is if none of their three Japanese stars pitch in next spring’s international tournament.
Each of them shouldered a heavy burden during last season’s postseason, from Sasaki’s nine appearances out of the bullpen to Ohtani’s four starts in a two-way role to Yamamoto’s playoff-leading 37⅓ innings (the final 8⅔ of which came on back-to-back days in Games 6 and 7 of the World Series) most of all.
Each of them could also benefit from extra rest going into the 2026 campaign. Sasaki will be returning to the starting rotation after missing most of last year’s regular season because of a shoulder injury. Ohtani will be embarking on his first full season of two-way duties since 2023. Yamamoto is coming off what was already an unprecedented workload even before last season’s playoffs, having set a new career high (either in MLB or Japan) with 30 starts in the regular season.
Already, it appears several other Dodgers players will, or are likely, to skip the event. While Team Canada general manager Greg Hamilton said Freddie Freeman would like to participate, the first baseman is dealing with some lingering health issues after playing through an ankle injury for much of last season. Teoscar Hernández said in an interview that he will not play for the Dominican Republic in order to focus on next season. Tommy Edman, who previously represented Team Korea, is also not expected to play as he recovers from an offseason ankle surgery.
To this point, the only Dodgers player other than Ohtani to confirm his WBC participation is catcher Will Smith for Team USA.
More could follow, from Mookie Betts (who has yet to announce any WBC decision) to Hyeseong Kim (who told Korean media he has requested permission from the Dodgers to participate) to Alex Vesia (who is under consideration for a Team USA spot, according to American general manager Michael Hill).
In Japan, however, the WBC is held to a higher standard of importance than most other countries around the world (and, to its fans, an even more significant level than the World Series itself). The nation has won the event a record three times, including in the most recent 2023 edition. And having star players sit out, or even be restricted, in the tournament can threaten to become a culturally controversial development.
The Dodgers understand this.
Manager Dave Roberts this week described the dynamic with the Japanese players as “very delicate,” and said neither he nor the organization “want to be dismissive of what it means to them representing their country.”
“You can’t debate the emotion,” he added, “what a player might feel of this potential opportunity.”
That doesn’t mean, however, the Dodgers aren’t concerned about the cost the tournament can incur, especially for starting pitchers given its place on the calendar.
Next year’s event will take place March 5-17, requiring pitchers to be built up for live-game action nearly a month earlier than they would otherwise. Team Japan will also have to travel from Tokyo (where they will play their group stage games) to Miami (where the knockout round will be held) during that two-week window, assuming they advance through the preliminary round as expected.
Because of that, Roberts acknowledged he was hoping Ohtani (who will still be managed carefully as a pitcher next season, potentially with a week or more of rest between outings) would only hit in the event — and seemed to hint that would be the likely outcome for the reigning MVP.
“The pitching side of things is challenging and gives us a little bit of pause,” general manager Brandon Gomes added. “But yeah, we’ll obviously continue to have those conversations and figure it out.”
The Dodgers will also face a decision with Sasaki, whom they can block from participating in the WBC since he missed the majority of last season on the 60-day injured list, though they haven’t given an indication yet on whether they would do so.
“We just need to sit down and talk through it as an organization,” Gomes said generally of the team’s process for WBC players. “Once we get more info on the players, we’ll have those conversations.”
While the Dodgers can’t prevent Yamamoto from participating, Roberts indicated they could lobby for Team Japan to keep him (and Ohtani or Sasaki, if they wind up on the Japanese staff, as well) on a more restricted workload for the tournament.
“I would like to think that it’s going to be a dialogue as far as restrictions and limitations,” Roberts said. “In the sense of just trying to give them the opportunity, but also understand they’ve come off some stuff, some long seasons.”
There should be more clarity in the coming month, with Team Japan hoping to have its roster finalized by the new year. Next week, Friedman said, clubs and national teams will also submit forms to MLB regarding players’ potential participation, which allows for a period of feedback between all parties.
“I do think that the conversations need to be had [and] will be had, as far as what each individual is taking on and whatever role that they might be taking on,” Roberts said. “And what potential costs there might be.”
For now, however, when it comes to one of the more delicate situations the Dodgers will have to navigate this offseason, “there’s no more clarity than we had before,” Roberts added.
