The Los Angeles Dodgers are currently the kings of the baseball world, weeks removed from winning the 2024 World Series.
Unanimous National League MVP Shohei Ohtani was as good as expected in his first season with the Dodgers. He became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 or more home runs and steal 50 or more bases in the same season.
The Dodgers open the 2025 regular season against the Chicago Cubs in Ohtani’s native Japan.
Manager Dave Roberts doesn’t expect the two-way superstar to be able to pitch in the series. Instead, Ohtani will have to wow his home country at the plate or in the field.
“I just don’t see us starting the clock in March to then think that we would keep that continuously going through October. Then that would call for a break or reprieve in the middle of the season,” Roberts said Monday via ESPN.
Ohtani hasn’t pitched since August of 2023, when he was still with the Los Angeles Angels. He tore his UCL in his pitching elbow and underwent Tommy John Surgery in September. The rehab kept him off the mound for all of 2024.
After the 2024 World Series ended, Ohtani underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder. The three-time MVP will now focus more on rehabbing that injury instead of rushing back to pitch.
Ohtani may never pitch again. He had one of the best seasons of all time at the plate in 2024, and despite his two AL Cy Young Awards with the Angels, the Dodgers may be hesitant to let him return to the mound with nine years left on his mega contract signed before last season.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, they have no shortage of pitching. They signed former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell early in free agency.
[ESPN]
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