ORLANDO, Fla. -- When two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani announced his intent to play for Samurai Japan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, he did not specify whether he will hit and pitch, as he did in the '23 edition of the tournament.
No official decision has been made on the extent of Ohtani's WBC participation, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts let his preference be known while speaking at the Winter Meetings on Monday.
"I'm hoping he doesn't. But I don't know," Roberts said. "He's very in tune with his body. But I would say probably the thought is he's probably just going to hit."
Ohtani's countrymen on the Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki, should also be candidates to represent Japan, which begins play in Pool C of the 2026 Classic on March 6 at Tokyo Dome. The two pitchers have yet to discuss participating in the tournament with the Dodgers, who could have some concerns about their involvement.
As the Dodgers assess their options to improve their roster coming off back-to-back World Series titles -- with an eye on a third in 2026 -- the World Baseball Classic is not top of mind. But they will have to decide how they want to proceed well before pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in February.
"We've got so much stuff going on right now that it's probably a little more on the back burner," general manager Brandon Gomes said Monday. "We just need to sit down and talk through it as an organization, and then once we get more info on the players, like, have those conversations as well."
Representing one's country in the World Baseball Classic is quite an honor, and perhaps even more so for Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki, who all helped Samurai Japan win gold in 2023. But there will have to be some considerations when it comes to the possibility of any of the three pitching in the tournament in '26.
Yamamoto is coming off a 2025 campaign that saw him throw 173 2/3 regular-season innings and another 37 1/3 in the postseason -- in sum, nearly double his workload from '24, his first big league season. Sasaki spent more than four months of his rookie Major League season on the injured list with a right shoulder impingement.
"I would like to think that it's going to be a dialogue as far as restrictions and limitations, in the sense of just trying to give them the opportunity," Roberts said. "But also understand they've come off some stuff, some long seasons, and certainly with Yamamoto and looking out for 2026. But right now, there's no more clarity than we had before."
Ohtani was the MVP of the 2023 Classic, hitting .435 with a 1.345 OPS and going 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA on the mound. Memorably, he closed out the title game against Team USA, striking out then-teammate Mike Trout to seal Japan's victory.
This past season, Ohtani made his long-awaited return to pitching following a second major surgery on his right elbow in September 2023. He returned to the big league mound for the first time in nearly two years in June, going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts (47 innings).
The Dodgers anticipate Ohtani being a regular starting pitcher in 2026, although "regular" is relative when it comes to Ohtani. Roberts and Gomes acknowledged that there may be times in between outings when he needs more than five or six days of rest, and because his two-way player status gives the team added roster flexibility, the Dodgers should be able to accommodate that.
The Dodgers are accustomed to working with an incomplete blueprint when it comes to navigating Ohtani's two-way workload. Because of that, unique situations such as his rehab from elbow surgery while he was still the Dodgers' everyday DH required mutual trust and open communication between the two parties.
The same is true with Ohtani's participation in the World Baseball Classic. Chances are that he may only hit for Japan, but if he strongly feels like pitching in the tournament wouldn't compromise him later on in the year, then the Dodgers will hear him out.
"Always, the pitching side of things is challenging and gives us a little bit of pause," Gomes said. "But yeah, we'll obviously continue to have those conversations and figure it out."