Shohei Ohtani desires to be a two-way participant again next season.
What he said was expected.
How he said it was worrisome.
“I intend on doing everything,” he said in Japanese.
Is next season destined to finish the approach this one did for the Dodgers, with a broken-down Ohtani rendering their lineup incapable of producing the offense required to return to the World Series?
Not essentially.
As Ohtani catalogued his frustrations from his injury-plagued season after the Dodgers were swept out of the playoffs by the Brewers on Thursday night time, one explicit failure appeared to hassle him more than the others.
“I wasn’t able to pitch in the postseason,” he said.
This was either the best information the Dodgers could have obtained or an early death knell for their next season.
Depends on what Ohtani does to improve his probabilities of pitching next October.
Does he modify his in-season pitching schedule and settle for some kind of load management?
That would give him a probability, not only to pitch in video games that matter most, but also to stay the difference-making hitter the Dodgers need him to be.
Or does he merely change his offseason exercise routine in hopes that he can strengthen his physique to where it can face up to pitching and hitting from Opening Day to the last sport of the World Series?
Considering how shortly his season was derailed and the results those accidents had on him as a hitter, that plan would be an invitation for catastrophe.
Ohtani turns 33 next yr.
He didn’t specify what he was pondering, other than that he would begin deliberating a course of motion now that the Dodgers were in their offseason.
The ambiguity that was both a source of optimism and concern was the outcome of how Ohtani addressed reporters.
A horde of journalists from the United States, Japan and who knows where else fashioned a semicircle around Ohtani, who fielded inquiries in a scattershot question-and-answer session that lasted about seven minutes.
Generally talking, the questions he was requested were missing in element — or, in some instances, the particulars were lost as they handed through Ohtani’s interpreter. When Ohtani said something noteworthy — the statements quoted above, for instance — more pointed questions on the subject couldn’t be requested because another journalist needed to ask about something solely totally different.
For instance, when Ohtani acknowledged that he could endure offseason surgical procedure but didn’t say what physique half he might have to restore, there was no follow-up query on the subject. Some bozo Japanese reporter at the entrance of the mob requested an unnecessarily verbose query about what he, Shohei Ohtani, saw in the Brewers that the Dodgers were missing.
(Ohtani was recognized to be dealing with discomfort in his proper arm and left knee when he was positioned on the injured checklist in September. That was most likely still the case in the playoffs. When supervisor Dave Roberts was requested what was bothering Ohtani before Game 3 of the National League Championship Series, he replied, “It’s everything. It’s the upper body. It’s the knee.”)
While Ohtani left unanswered questions about his health standing, and perhaps intentionally so, he made it a level to expound on his want to be a two-way participant again.
He spoke of his disappointment of not being ready to take the mound in the playoffs, as properly as at the finish of the common season.
“That’s a point of dissatisfaction,” Ohtani said.
He continued, “Of course, I feel like I want to continue [playing both ways]. Because of that, I want to have a good offseason.”
Right after saying he deliberate on “doing everything,” Ohtani said, “I want to do my best so that I can have a better season [than this season].”
Effort alone won’t make that occur, of course, and this is where the Dodgers have to step in. Rather than proceed to be his servants, they have to be his companions.
Practicality doesn’t appeal to Ohtani. Dreams do.
So promote him on a dream.
Ohtani on the mound in the World Series, perhaps in a Game 7. But unlike in 2025 when the Dodgers were taking part in the Blue Jays and Ohtani lasted just 2 ⅓ innings, this time he is the successful pitcher.
The Dodgers can get him there, possibly by giving him more time between begins, possibly by holding him out as a pitcher in the early levels of the season.
Ohtani doesn’t sound as if he has a firm plan in place, which means the Dodgers have an alternative to form his pondering. They have to take benefit of it.
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