Balancing two-way play with health top of mind for Ohtani, Dodgers

LOS ANGELES -- For the first time since 2022, Shohei Ohtani was not crowned his league's Most Valuable Player.

But at the same time, the season he had -- and his runner-up finish to NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong -- was still no small feat. Ohtani was worth a 143 OPS+ and a 237 ERA+, indicating that he was far better than league average both as a hitter and as a pitcher. No other player in baseball could have put together an equivalent two-way campaign.

When Ohtani was healthy, he was his usual dominant self. And that is one of the biggest challenges the Dodgers have ahead of them in 2027 -- and beyond.

Ongoing injuries, most notably to his left knee and right biceps, disrupted Ohtani's season in the second half. He did not pitch again after July 3, and his production at the plate dropped off steeply starting in mid-August. Ohtani landed on the IL in September, but the period of rest did not seem to meaningfully change his condition, as he went on to be a non-factor for most of the postseason.

Ohtani did not end up needing offseason surgery to address his injuries. He's expected to be fully healthy when Spring Training begins. But the Dodgers will have to examine what went wrong in 2026 in order to manage him more sustainably moving forward.

In at least one respect, the Dodgers will continue to let Ohtani steer the boat. General manager Brandon Gomes told reporters at the GM Meetings that the team will leave whether he goes through his normal offseason throwing program up to him, acknowledging that the superstar will likely want to try to go wire to wire as a two-way player once again.

Winning a championship was a priority over another MVP Award for Ohtani this past season, but he and the Dodgers fell short of both feats. To get back to MVP form, Ohtani and the team may have to reimagine how a full two-way season realistically looks for him at this point in time.

Ohtani's most complete two-way season took place in 2022, when he appeared in 157 games as a hitter and logged a career-high 166 innings on the mound. That was his age-27 season; he is entering his age-32 season.

Regardless of age, being a two-way player comes with a unique physical and mental toll. Ohtani has managed it throughout his career, but in recent years, he hasn't dealt with a full two-way workload. Since having a second major surgery on his right elbow in September 2023, he has thrown just 132 2/3 regular-season innings.

An oft-repeated sentiment around the Dodgers is that there is no blueprint for managing a two-way player. They have had to rely heavily on conversations between the training staff and Ohtani -- who, as president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman noted toward the end of the season, was not always entirely transparent about how he was feeling. That trait is common among most all superstars, who would rather play hurt than take themselves off the field.

The Dodgers appreciate that mentality from Ohtani, rather than the inverse. But it also may indicate that they need to be more proactive about taking the decision to play out of his hands every now and then.

There are several possibilities for how that could look. It could mean that Ohtani may not begin the season in the rotation -- even though he is expected to be healthy and he will almost certainly want to pitch from the beginning. If that is the case, then the Dodgers could work in more days off as a hitter. Last season, they felt that having a recovery day after Ohtani's pitching starts, whether a team off-day or a game out of the lineup, was good for him.

Having a healthier Ohtani may not have changed the Dodgers' fate this past season, and they can't let themselves get caught up in wondering what could have been. But finding a way to get Ohtani through a two-way season at full strength, or close, could be as valuable as any transaction the team may make this offseason.