Dodgers 'fully expect' Shohei Ohtani to pitch in 2027 after two 2026 injuries

What happened

The Los Angeles Dodgers say they fully expect Shohei Ohtani to return to two-way duty in 2027, per CBS Sports' Mike Axisa. Per the report, Ohtani nursed two injuries during the 2026 season but will not need surgery, and the organization is planning for him to pitch and hit next year. The club's framing — "fully expect" — carries the weight of institutional confidence, though Axisa's report makes clear this is the Dodgers' stated position, not a medical clearance or a formal club announcement.

Per the report, the organization has also outlined three paths it could take in managing Ohtani's return to the mound. Those paths reflect planning scenarios rather than settled decisions, and none of their specific details have been reported.

Why it matters

Ohtani's pitching status has been the central question hanging over the Dodgers' offseason since he missed the final three months of the 2026 season on the mound due to injury, per prior reporting. Per earlier coverage, Ohtani himself said he "definitely" plans to pitch in 2027 — and now the organization is publicly aligning with that expectation. That alignment matters: it signals the club is not quietly preparing for a version of Ohtani that is designated hitter only, and that their roster construction heading into 2027 will account for a rotation slot, or at least a hybrid workload, for their franchise player.

For a team that finished 100-62 and won the NL West, the question was never whether the Dodgers could be good without Ohtani pitching. They demonstrably were. The question is whether they can get back the version of him that makes opposing pitching staffs feel structurally unfair — the one that takes the ball every fifth day and then steps into the batter's box the other four. Per the report, the organization believes the answer is yes.

Two-way players occupy a specific administrative category under general league rules: they are subject to the 15-day injured list rather than the 10-day IL that applies to position players, which reflects the dual physical demands the designation acknowledges. Whether Ohtani's path back to that status involves any IL time in 2027 is not addressed in Axisa's report.

The numbers

The Dodgers finished the 2026 regular season at 100-62 (.617), first in the NL West, and arrived at this offseason on a three-game winning streak.

That 100-win mark is the backdrop against which every decision involving Ohtani gets made. A club that wins 100 games without its two-way star throwing a single pitch in the season's final three months has a certain kind of leverage in how it manages his return — it does not need to rush him, and it does not need to paper over a rotation hole with his arm before he is ready. The three paths Axisa describes in the report exist precisely because the Dodgers have the standing to be deliberate.

Where the club stands

Los Angeles sits atop the NL West at 100-62 (.617), riding a three-game winning streak into the offseason. The roster picture around Ohtani is already shifting: catcher Ben Rortvedt elected minor league free agency after being outrighted off the 40-man roster in September, and Miguel Rojas announced his retirement following the end of the postseason run. Per prior reporting, the question of what happens with Tarik Skubal — acquired from the Tigers ahead of the August 3 trade deadline in exchange for three prospects — has been described as the biggest question of the Dodgers' offseason.

Into that already-busy offseason calculus, the Ohtani pitching question now has at least a directional answer: the organization reportedly expects him back on the mound. What that means for how they approach the rotation, and whether Skubal factors into a long-term plan or a bridge scenario, remains to be seen.

What we don't know yet

The report does not specify what the two injuries were, when Ohtani is expected to resume throwing, or what any of the three organizational paths actually entail in terms of workload, timeline, or roster structure. The exact timeline for his return to pitching activity remains unclear, per prior coverage. "Fully expect" is a statement of organizational intent, not a medical timetable, and the gap between those two things is where most of the interesting offseason questions live.

It is also worth noting that Ohtani's own public comments — that he "definitely" plans to pitch in 2027 — and the Dodgers' institutional framing are now pointing in the same direction, but neither constitutes a formal announcement of a return date, a spring training plan, or a settled role.

What to watch

### Will Ohtani be ready for spring training as a pitcher?

Per the report, the Dodgers reportedly expect him to return to two-way play in 2027, but no spring training timeline has been reported. The next meaningful data point will be whether Ohtani begins a throwing program and when that information surfaces publicly. Given that he missed the final three months of the 2026 season on the mound, the ramp-up to competitive pitching — even for someone of his ability — is not a trivial logistical question.

The Skubal situation will also bear watching in parallel. How the Dodgers resolve that question could offer indirect signals about how much pitching depth they believe they need to carry independently of Ohtani's arm, and how much confidence they are placing in the three paths Axisa describes. The offseason is young, the roster is already in motion, and the most important player on the roster is, per the organization's own framing, reportedly expected to be doing something in 2027 that he could not do for the last three months of 2026.

That is, at minimum, a reason to pay attention.