Shohei Ohtani's 2026 Pitching Season is Likely Over, and the Dodgers Will Be Just Fine

The dream of Shohei Ohtani dominating both sides of the ball in the 2026 playoffs is officially on life support. According to MLB Trade Rumors and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, the two-way superstar is highly unlikely to throw another competitive pitch this season.

Ohtani has been dealing with lingering knee and biceps soreness, and a recent 20-pitch bullpen session did not go well. When you have a guy hitting .283 with 30 home runs and carrying your offense, you do not risk breaking him just to get five innings on a random Sunday in August. As Roberts put it, compromising his offensive value is simply not worth the squeeze.

"Dave Roberts: 'His value offensively is hugely important, and so we can't compromise that in any fashion. If throwing potentially cuts into that, that's not worth the squeeze.'"

Before his body started barking in early July, Ohtani was putting up video game numbers on the mound. He logged a microscopic 1.79 ERA with a 27.9 percent strikeout rate over 14 starts. Those are the kind of stats that usually swing World Series futures and Cy Young betting markets entirely on their own.

But this is the Los Angeles Dodgers we are talking about, a franchise that collects elite pitching like normal people collect pocket change. They already went out and traded for back-to-back AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal at the deadline to front a rotation that features Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Losing a sub-2.00 ERA starter would be a death blow for about 28 other franchises. For Los Angeles, it is just a mild inconvenience on their quest to become the first National League team to win three straight World Series. They have the luxury of wrapping Ohtani's pitching arm in bubble wrap until 2027.

The immediate reality is that Glasnow will take Ohtani's scheduled turn in the rotation against the Detroit Tigers, and the Dodgers will let their $700 million man focus entirely on hitting baseballs into orbit. If Ohtani can shake off his recent minor slump at the plate, nobody in Chavez Ravine is going to care that he is strictly a designated hitter this October.