Although Shohei Ohtani was subject to some mild clowning for his World Series performance this season — he hit .105 with a .385 OPS, no homers, and no RBI — it was hard to truly evaluate it because he was playing through two injuries. The first was obvious; during the seventh inning of Game 2, he slid left-arm-first into second base attempting to steal and dislocated his shoulder. The repercussions of that slide weren’t revealed until after the Dodgers had won, and they announced he’d be undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum.
The surgery is on his non-throwing arm, which is reassuring, but the mention of surgery ahead of the year when Ohtani is supposed to make his triumphant return to the mound is more than enough to strike fear into the hearts of Dodgers fans.
After his unanimous MVP win on Thursday, Ohtani told reporters that he was shooting to be ready to both hit and pitch by Opening Day, but that the team wasn’t going to rush him.
It does leave some room to be worried about Ohtani’s timeline to return to playing altogether, not just hitting or pitching individually. His timeline is still TBD, which gives fans equal reason not to freak out and to start freaking out.
Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani’s return from injury still up in the air after labrum surgery
It was already suspected that Ohtani wouldn’t be ready to pitch by the Tokyo Series next year, which takes place on March 18 and 19. MLB is probably banging their heads against a wall about that, as an Ohtani-Shota Imanaga pitching matchup during one of those games would likely send viewership to new heights in Japan. Losing Ohtani from the lineup would be a different kind of catastrophe for both MLB and the Dodgers.
It makes sense that the Dodgers are handling him with care, given the money attached to him and the precedent they set this season, when they (wisely) didn’t speed up his pitching rehab to put him on the mound in the postseason, despite some wishy-washiness from Dave Roberts on the issue.
Ohtani’s progression through the offseason will be a must-watch. The labrum surgery clearly (hopefully?) won’t keep him out for a large chunk of the season, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Dodgers have to do without him for at least the first few weeks.
