Shohei Ohtani says he 'definitely' plans to pitch in 2027

Shohei Ohtani told MLB.com he "definitely" plans to pitch in the 2027 season, offering the clearest public signal yet that the two-way experiment is not over — just delayed, and delayed again.

What happened

Per MLB.com's Brian Murphy, Ohtani stated his intention to return to the mound in 2027. The caveat embedded in that timeline is not subtle: injuries kept him off the mound for the final 3 months of the 2025 season, and the 2026 campaign brought its own complications. The word "definitely" is Ohtani's own, and it carries the weight of a man who has spent two consecutive seasons watching his pitching plans dissolve somewhere around midsummer.

MLB.com reported the remarks in the wake of the Dodgers' NLCS exit, a series that itself became a referendum on Ohtani's health. The statement is not a club announcement of a pitching schedule, a roster designation, or a medical clearance — it is a player expressing intent, which is both meaningful and, in the context of the last two years, worth holding loosely.

Why it matters

The two-way question has followed Ohtani since he arrived in the major leagues, and it has grown louder with each injury interruption. When a player of his profile says "definitely," it lands differently than a routine offseason pledge — but the operational reality is that 2027 is still a full season away, and the path between here and a pitching appearance runs through a recovery process that has not been publicly detailed.

What the remark does accomplish is framing. Ohtani is not hedging, not floating a "we'll see," not deferring to the medical staff in his phrasing. He is staking out a position. Whether the body ratifies that position is a separate question, and one the desk cannot answer from the available material.

The broader context sharpens the stakes. Per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, Ohtani described 2026 as an injury-plagued season after the Dodgers' NLCS exit — a characterization that, paired with the 2025 mound absence, means he has now publicly acknowledged back-to-back years of significant health disruption. The pitching half of his game has been essentially dormant across that stretch, which makes the 2027 declaration less a casual update and more a statement of purpose.

The numbers

The Dodgers finished the regular season at 100-62 (.617), first in the NL West and riding a three-game winning streak into the postseason. That record reflects a roster built around Ohtani's offensive presence — a presence that remained in the lineup even as the pitching timeline stretched further into the future.

A 100-win season is the backdrop against which Ohtani's mound absence has to be understood. Los Angeles did not need him to pitch to win at that clip, which is either a testament to the depth of the roster or a useful reminder that the pitching return, whenever it comes, would be additive rather than necessary. Probably both.

Where the club stands

The Dodgers went 100-62 (.617) in the regular season, led the NL West, and carried a three-game winning streak into October. Their postseason run ended with the NLCS exit that prompted Ohtani's remarks to Brian Murphy.

The offseason now opens with the pitching question as one of the franchise's most prominent storylines — not because the club is in distress, but because a healthy, pitching Ohtani represents a version of this roster that has not been fully realized in Los Angeles. The 2027 declaration puts that version back on the board, at least in intent.

What we don't know yet

The nature of the injuries that kept Ohtani off the mound in 2025 has not been detailed in the available material, nor has the specific health situation he described as plaguing his 2026 season. There is no reported timetable for when he might begin a pitching buildup, no medical update attached to the MLB.com remarks, and no club announcement about his status heading into the offseason.

The "definitely" is his word, and it is the most concrete thing available. Everything between that word and an actual 2027 pitching appearance — the recovery arc, the spring workload, the roster mechanics that would govern a two-way designation — remains unconfirmed.

It is also worth noting that the NLCS stretch raised its own questions. Per earlier Posterior Wire reporting, health concerns surfaced around Ohtani heading into NLCS Game 3, he was moved down in the batting order for that game before returning to the leadoff spot for Game 4, and he had gone homerless since Aug. 18 with an identified mechanical root cause. Ohtani himself said he was healthy ahead of Game 3, but the broader picture of his 2026 physical condition is one he has described as difficult — and the details behind that description have not been fully reported.

What to watch

### Will Ohtani provide any update on his pitching health this offseason?

The MLB.com remarks establish intent but not a medical baseline. Any offseason reporting on the specifics of his 2026 injuries — and what recovery looks like heading into 2027 — will be the next meaningful data point on whether "definitely" holds its shape.

Beyond the health question, the Dodgers' offseason roster construction will be worth monitoring in light of Ohtani's stated plans. A two-way player operates under different roster rules than a position player or a pitcher alone, and how the club structures his role heading into 2027 spring training will signal how seriously the organization is treating the pitching return as a near-term operational reality rather than a long-range aspiration.

For now, the desk has a player's stated intention, a franchise with 100 wins and a postseason exit, and a two-way timeline that has been pushed to 2027. The word "definitely" is doing a lot of work. It has two years to prove it meant it.