The Los Angeles Dodgers were attempting to three-peat this year, but fell short.
Shohei Ohtani was having an MVP-caliber year until injuries derailed his season. A knee issue and biceps injury ended up ending his season on the mound, and he struggled as a hitter down the stretch. There was even talk of benching him in the National League Championship Series.
Now that the Dodgers are in offseason mode, he can actually heal without trying to get on the field and play. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman noted that surgery was "not on the table” for Ohtani this offseason during his end-of-season press conference on Wednesday, per The Athletic's Andrew Friedman. It's a good sign that Ohtani will not need surgery to get back to 100%, but it does not change the fact that he will always remain at higher risk for injury since he is a two-way player.
Ohtani has already noted that he plans to continue pitching next season, and Friedman confirmed that fact on Wednesday.
"I fully expect him to pitch next year,” Friedman said Wednesday.
Friedman also addressed what happened to Ohtani this year regarding his injuries, and why he could not really get back to 100%.
“It was just a little bit of an unfortunate game of Whac-A-Mole,” Friedman said. “The knee got to a better spot, and then just kinda the bicep area was bothering him. Just a number of different things. Some of it would calm down for some period, some that would get re-irritated. It was just a lot of different things he was trying to contend with at once.”