NEW YORK – Shohei Ohtani quickly left Dodger Stadium after injuring his left shoulder in Game 2 on Saturday nightleaving his teammates with as many questions about his status for the rest of the World Series as everyone else.

Then their phones started ringing.

“He texted the whole team on our way to the airport and told us he was going to be fine, and that was it,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy revealed before the third game on Monday. “He said he was going to play, so we all put that aside at that point. We said, okay, he’s got us. We’ll be ready for him to be in the lineup.

The group chat is for players only, so Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn’t hear about the text until Muncy spoke to the media about it on Monday.

“It would have been helpful if I had seen that thread,” Roberts joked. “I would have slept better Saturday night.”

Roberts was able to sleep better after watching Ohtani perform “probably 80 percent” of his normal daily routine during the Dodgers’ off-day workout Sunday. Ohtani traveled separately from the team after being examined Sunday and arrived at Yankee Stadium as practice was winding down.

“From Saturday night (when he was injured) to yesterday when I saw him in the cage hitting balls 102 miles an hour off a tee – it was joy,” Roberts said.

“He was very adamant that he was going to play. … I think there was more uncertainty in each of our minds. But in his mind from day one, from Saturday night, he was going to play.

Roberts said Monday that Ohtani’s MRI results confirmed the partial dislocation and showed no structural damage.

GAME 4

The Dodgers will hold another bullpen game for Game 4 against the Yankees. Brent Honeywell Jr. was in the interview room before Game 3, so he was asked if that was an indication that he would be the “opener” of the bullpen game.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Good question.”

Roberts said Honeywell was not “Plan A” to start Game 4 and that the pitching plan would be “conditioned” on how the bullpen was used in Game 3.

“I say that in all honesty because there’s leverage on guys in a plus game (the Dodgers leading) that I’m going to use. And if the game is pretty poor or the situation is different, then I’ll use other guys,” Roberts said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to get through this.”

Roberts said Honeywell could be a part of the Game 4 bullpen.

“It’s all about doing your job, every guy,” Honeywell said of the bullpen’s approach to games. “You go out, you get the outs that you’re asked to get. And once that happens, you have to look at the guy coming behind you and do the same thing.

“It’s kind of about giving it a different look. I would associate our bullpen with any bullpen I’ve been in and any bullpen I’ve ever seen. I want to win, and if this is the way we have to do it, this is the way we have to do it.

ALL RISE

Earlier in the playoffs, when Ohtani was going 2-for-17 and failing to get a hit with no runners on base, Roberts was asked about the possibility of dropping him down the batting order . He rejected the idea.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone was asked the same questions before Game 3 in New York about Aaron Judge. The presumed American League MVP was 1 for 9 with six strikeouts in the first two games against the Dodgers, 6 for 40 (.150) with 19 strikeouts in the postseason and is a career .199 hitter in the playoffs.

“It’s the World Series, right,” Boone said of Judge’s move down in the order. “He’s our guy, and there’s pressure on the show no matter where you are. He’s our man and we’re confident he’ll do it.

CALL ABROAD

The World Series attracts an average of 15.15 million viewers in Japan over two games. According to MLB, the Dodgers’ 4-2 victory in Game 2 averaged 15.9 million, making it the most-watched MLB playoff game in national history.

Besides the appeal of Ohtani, the game had Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the Dodgers’ starting pitcher.