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

Shohei Ohtani told MLB.com's Brian Murphy that he "definitely" plans to pitch in 2027, offering the clearest signal yet that the Los Angeles Dodgers' two-way star intends to reclaim the mound role that injuries stripped from him down the stretch of a difficult 2026 campaign.

What happened

Per Brian Murphy's report for MLB.com, Ohtani stated his intention to pitch in the 2027 season. The word "definitely" is his own, and it carries weight precisely because 2026 gave him so little opportunity to use his arm. Injuries kept Ohtani off the mound for the final 3 months of the season — a stretch that represents a meaningful portion of any pitching workload.

The statement arrives in the immediate aftermath of the Dodgers' postseason run, with Ohtani already on record describing 2026 as injury-plagued. MLB.com reported that framing a day before Murphy's piece published, when Ohtani flagged the health issues that defined his year following the team's NLCS exit. The pitching declaration reads less like a surprise announcement and more like the next sentence in a conversation Ohtani had already started.

Why it matters

The operational stakes here are considerable. When Ohtani pitches, the Dodgers carry one of the sport's most unusual roster constructions — a player who qualifies for the 15-day injured list as a pitcher and two-way player under league rules, and whose availability on the mound changes the calculus of a rotation entirely. When he does not pitch, as was the case for the final 3 months of 2026, Los Angeles absorbs that absence into a starting staff that was already navigating its own uncertainties.

Those uncertainties did not resolve quietly. The Dodgers acquired Tarik Skubal from the Tigers ahead of the August 3 trade deadline, parting with three prospects to do so, and Skubal's future with the club is now described as the biggest question of their offseason. That question and Ohtani's pitching timeline are not independent of each other — the shape of the 2027 rotation depends, at least in part, on what Ohtani's arm can do and when.

It is worth noting what Ohtani's statement is and is not. It is a stated intention, attributed to the player himself by MLB.com. It is not a medical clearance, a timetable, a spring-training assignment, or a guarantee of innings. What it is, plainly, is the most direct thing Ohtani has said about his pitching future since the injury-shortened stretch began, and that directness is the news.

The numbers

The Dodgers finished the 2026 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 club that won at a high rate even while absorbing the loss of Ohtani's pitching for a significant portion of the year — which is either a testament to organizational depth or a quiet argument for how much higher the ceiling sits when he is healthy and throwing.

Where the club stands

Los Angeles enters the offseason from a position of strength on paper: 100-62, division leaders, postseason participants. The roster around that record, however, is already shifting. Miguel Rojas announced his retirement following the end of the Dodgers' postseason run, closing out 13 MLB seasons and transitioning into a player development role with the organization. Catcher Ben Rortvedt, outrighted off the 40-man roster in September, elected minor league free agency. The edges of the roster are in motion, as they always are in October, and the center of it — Ohtani's dual role — remains the gravitational question.

The Skubal situation hangs over the rotation picture specifically. The Dodgers gave up three prospects to bring him in before the deadline, and what happens next with that investment is, per reporting, the defining offseason question for the pitching staff. Ohtani's stated intention to pitch in 2027 does not answer that question, but it does change the frame around it.

What we don't know yet

Ohtani's statement is a declaration of intent, not a medical report. The nature of the injuries that kept him off the mound for the final 3 months of 2026 has not been detailed in the material available from MLB.com. There is no timetable attached to his return to pitching, no spring-training target, and no word on what the Dodgers' medical staff has communicated about his arm.

The Skubal question is similarly open. Whether he returns to Los Angeles, departs via free agency or trade, or lands somewhere in between is unresolved. The interaction between that answer and Ohtani's pitching availability will shape what the 2027 rotation actually looks like — but that shape is not yet visible.

What to watch

Is Ohtani expected to be pitching-ready for spring training?

That is the question that follows naturally from his "definitely" — and it is one the desk cannot answer from the material at hand. What to watch, then, is whether the Dodgers or Ohtani's representatives offer any further specificity about his arm health and preparation timeline as the offseason progresses. A stated intention is a starting point; the medical and logistical details that convert intention into a spring rotation slot are what come next.

Beyond Ohtani, the Skubal decision will move quickly by offseason standards given the investment already made. And with Rojas retired and Rortvedt in minor league free agency, the Dodgers' roster construction work is already underway — the kind of quiet October shuffling that happens every year, regardless of how many games a club won, and that sets the table for whatever the next season brings.

Ohtani's "definitely" is the headline. The fine print gets written between now and February.