Ohtani won't require surgery; Dodgers 'fully expect him to pitch next year' — SkimNews
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- Ohtani will not require surgery for his left knee or right arm ailments; doctors prescribed only rest and the expectation is that his 2027 season will be unaffected
- Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told reporters at an end-of-season news conference that "I fully expect him to pitch next year," adding the organization is "excited about him pitching"
- Ohtani went 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA in his first 14 starts (95 strikeouts in 85⅔ innings) before pain ended his pitching on July 3; as of Aug. 18 he was slashing .294/.390/.558 with 30 home runs
- Ohtani slumped late, recording 11 hits and 29 strikeouts over his final 70 regular-season at-bats and going 4-for-22 with no extra-base hits in his first seven postseason games
- The Dodgers were swept by the Brewers in the NLCS after the entire offense posted a .590 postseason OPS and went 4-for-27 with runners in scoring position in that series — not just Ohtani
- Friedman outlined options for Ohtani's 2027 workload — start pitching later, add off days between appearances, or a combination — and said organizational thinking is that Ohtani will need to be more forthcoming about injuries
- The Dodgers also face pending free agency for trade-deadline acquisition Tarik Skubal and relievers Alex Vesia and Evan Phillips, while trying to inject youth into what Friedman called baseball's oldest position player group
Why it matters: How Friedman manages a 32-year-old Ohtani's two-way workload and health transparency will shape whether baseball's oldest position player group can contend in 2027, especially with Skubal, Vesia, and Phillips headed to free agency. The offense's broader .590 postseason OPS — not just Ohtani's struggles — signals systemic issues that no single roster fix solves.
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