Loomis’ words came the same presser he issued a terse no comment on Derek Carr. That means any “competition” will only for sure include Shough and Spencer Rattler, but that would be a fight rigged in Shough’s favor. His only real concern is the team and Carr patching up their differences, but that does not seem terribly likely at the moment. 25-year-old second-rounder Shough probably has better than 50 percent odds of being under center Week 1.

Sauer will be capable of working multiple innings, but the 26-year-old won’t be able to go deep enough to qualify for a victory unless the Athletics are incredibly aggressive against the right-hander. He won’t be a quality streaming option for Thursday’s bullpen game against the Athletics.

Ohtani hit a no-doubter to lead off the game for the Dodgers and it bumps his homer total to 13. He’s been remarkably — and surprisingly — good in the month of May, and he’s now slashing .341/.442/.818 over those 48 at-bats in that timeframe. There’s a long way to go, but a back-to-back MVP season is well within reason, even if he doesn’t return to the mound in 2025.