Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations, said Wednesday that surgery is "not on the table" for Shohei Ohtani this offseason, for either the left knee or the right biceps. Per the r/baseball post relaying Ardaya's report, Friedman added: "I fully expect him to pitch next year." CBS Sports' Mike Axisa framed it the same way, saying the Dodgers will have Ohtani return to double duty in 2027.
Yahoo Sports and True Blue LA both described Ohtani as a diminished version of himself over the final two months of the regular season and the postseason. Friedman, per the Ardaya post, called the year "whack a mole" between the knee and then the biceps. That's the club's own account of why Ohtani's output dropped late, and it is the only explanation the reporting offers.
There is a conflict over how much Ohtani pitched. Yahoo's Teddy Ricketson wrote that he pitched in only eight games this year and last took the mound July 3. BenchScout's tables credit him with 14 starts, an 8-2 record, a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts in 85.2 innings. We can't tell from the reporting whether Yahoo means a narrower stretch or has a different count. Either way, the pitching we have on file was very good, and the biceps is the injury that bears on the mound work.
At the plate he stayed in the lineup. He hit .275 with a .889 OPS, 30 home runs and 81 RBI in 139 games. Those numbers fit "diminished": last year's 55 homers came with a 1.014 OPS. He last played Oct. 15, in the Dodgers' final loss to Milwaukee.
The club still won 100 games (100-62) and finished first in the NL West. It then lost its last four games, all to Milwaukee: 2-1 and 7-4 on the road, then 6-2 and 6-4 at home. The Dodgers scored 3.13 runs per game over their last eight outings. That is the stretch in which Friedman says Ohtani was playing hurt.
| G | H | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 139 | 144 | 30 | 81 | .275 | .889 |
CBS's headline promises "three paths" for how the Dodgers could use Ohtani, but the feed summary doesn't say what they are. We can't describe them without the full piece. Nothing in the reporting gives a timeline beyond "next year," or says whether the injuries will be treated with rest or with some other plan. Those are the details to watch as the offseason moves on and Ohtani's 2027 workload takes shape.
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