The season of the Los Angeles Dodgers ended on Thursday, which led to the arrival of an uncomfortable question: Is there such a thing as too much for Shohei Ohtani?
The two-way Dodgers superstar began the season in the rotation and ended it battling setbacks that kept him on the mound and sapped his power until the final game of the season. From the player himself, though, there are no plans to change.
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Here’s Ohtani’s commentary after the Dodgers’ season-ending NLCS loss, via MLB.com:
“Yes, definitely,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton when asked if he would change plans in 2027. “And he was looking forward to a better season next year.”
Ohtani declined to say if his transition to both ways of playing would include the offseason process.
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It’s not surprising to hear from Ohtani, who has been adamant about playing both ways whenever medically possible. The more interesting perspective here would be the Dodgers’, as the club is just trying to put Ohtani on the mound whenever possible and perhaps end the season for better reasons, given their history.
Two rumors about Ohtani are definitely true. It is one of the most successful doubles players in baseball history, even considering Babe Ruth, because the New York Yankees legend dared to hit and pitch only two times before becoming an outfielder.
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The second is that Ohtani qualified for the ERA title once in his MLB career.
For the first time in his three-year Dodgers tenure, Ohtani began the 2026 season in the team’s rotation and proceeded according to his usual standards, pitching once a week in every game.
Halfway through the season, he was a huge MVP favorite. After a while, he told reporters that he was still trying to figure out what was going on with the knee, biceps, and neck issues.
Ohtani made his last start on the mound on July 3, then stopped pitching while receiving an injection in his knee during the All-Star break. The original plan was for him to be ready to return as a pitcher, but the setbacks of the bullpen sessions pushed him to that date in 2027. He was filling in at the drop of a hat until joint issues saw him lose form in September and land on the injured list.
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Ohtani simply didn’t see the same in coming back from the IL as the Dodgers tried to find a lineup that worked. Few thought he would go 26 games between home runs, with his three-run blast in Game 4 of the NLCS representing his first hit streak since August 18.
The situation was constantly alarmed in the dream for the Dodgers, who successfully navigated the rotation of the building to win the title in 2024, then won the World Series with the round again in 2025. But in 2026, with the offense compromise Ohtani could not be deceived.
Even with the homer, Ohtani is hitting .192/.323/.308 with 4 walks and 10 strikeouts in 32 plate appearances.
The best part about the Dodgers is that there’s no guarantee this won’t happen again, since Ohtani is now 32 years old and has seven years left on his contract. Ohtani’s historical past, an unprecedented record that you can stay the course, at this point we should count the number of times Ohtani started and ended the MLB season as a full double season.
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The answer is twice: in 2021 and 2022. And in 2021 he only has 23 starts, with his Angels pitching 130 1/3 innings.
Ohtani played two full seasons as a junior player in Japan, but when he came to the US, he blew out his elbow as a rookie in 2018, rehabbed 2019, got shut down in 2020 due to further elbow issues, blew out again in 2023, and rehabbed 2024 and part of 2025. It’s legitimately surprising how much Ohtani was able to pitch in the MLB when he’s dealing with all those injuries.
This season was supposed to be the year of Ohtani’s entire career, and it wrapped up his worst year in the Dodgers uniform to date. What lesson should we take from that?
The best plan would be for the Bambino to make the trip and give Ohtani the time he deserves, accepting the full workload of pitching too much for him while maintaining his usual excellence at the plate. Few would be happy about that, least of all Ohtani, judging by what was said on Thursday.
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Another roll of ankles is also possible. Have Ohtani do what he needs to do to gain confidence in his body in the offseason, put him back in the rotation on Opening Day and hope his age 33 season ends differently than his age 32 season. That would be a risk, the exact type that was going to be noon this year, when the workload restrictions could still be mitigated.
A compromise could be found between them, but even that option would be aggressive. The Dodgers are essentially replicating Ohtani’s 2025 workload, but without the injury rehab. They could wait a few months to start a pitcher and gradually integrate him, with appearances increasing from one inning to a full start. After all, Ohtani spent about three months in 2025 and three months in 2026 as a quality starting pitcher. The beginnings in 2025 were simply more timely.
That would be a hard sell for Ohtani, who clearly wants to pitch the entire season, but this season has provided a compelling argument against it. Today’s Dodgers simply don’t need a version of Ohtani pitching to make the playoffs or even win the NL West. But he certainly needs the sauce for a while.