The Los Angeles Dodgers have plenty of questions to address following their National League Championship Series elimination at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The Dodgers were swept out of the NLCS, and now face an early offseason where they need to retool ahead of 2027.
The Dodgers must find a way to get younger and inject some youth into the lineup. They also need to decide if they want to pursue pending free agent Tarik Skubal.
Nothing, however, is as important as figuring out their plan for superstar Shohei Ohtani.
Dodgers Need to Better Address Shohei Ohtani's Health in 2027
Ohtani is coming off his worst year as a Dodger, where he was a shell of himself over the final two months of the season.
The 32-year-old was dealing with injuries to his knee, biceps and neck that ultimately hampered his play into October.
In the first half of the season, Ohtani was looking like the clear NL MVP, hitting .293 with 22 home runs, 58 RBIs and an OPS of .953 while going 8-2 as a pitcher with a 1.79 ERA and 95 strikeouts over 85.2 innings.
Then, he was removed from the rotation just before the All-Star break, and wouldn't make another pitching appearance the rest of the year.
While the Dodgers tried to continue his pitching progression, his offense took a dip.
In the second half of the year, Ohtani hit .245 with eight home runs, 23 RBIs and an OPS of .772. His final home run of the regular season came on Aug. 18, and he hit just .157 over his final 18 games of the regular season.
Ohtani also had his first stint on the injured list in September, and then struggled mightily come the postseason outside of his three-run home run in NLCS Game 4.
Ohtani turns 33 next year and will be in the fourth season of his 10-year, $700 million contract with LA. At this point, the team needs to answer a very important question...
Should Shohei Ohtani Still Be a Two-Way Player?
This question is more complex than any other question hanging over the Dodgers this offseason.
Ohtani has made it known he wants to be a two-way player as long as he can, and the team can't simply decide to take that away from him.
How they allow him to keep pitching while also staying healthy will be the most important offseason question, though.
For what it's worth, Ohtani clearly stated after the year that he plans to continue his two-way play in 2027.
"Yes, definitely," Ohtani said through an interpreter when asked is he planned to pitch next season. "And looking forward to having a better season next year."
That decision, of course, won't solely be up to him. The Dodgers front office will have conversations with him as they dictate the best path moving forward. However, if Ohtani wants to pitch, he almost certainly will in 2027.
So then, the Dodgers must decide the best course of action for having him as a two-way player.
In 2025, the Dodgers slow-played Ohtani the pitcher, having him make his pitching debut in June. He began with one-inning outings and slowly ramped up before he was pitching five innings by the end of the year.
Then, come October, he was a healthy version of himself en route to the team winning their second consecutive World Series.
The Dodgers could deploy a similar approach in 2027. They could use him as a one-inning opener early in the year to keep his arm fresh without over-exerting him. Then, they could ramp him up as the year goes on. Whether or not Ohtani is open to that, however, is another story.
The one thing Ohtani is yet to accomplish in his MLB career is winning a Cy Young award. The 2026 season felt like his best chance until injuries took over. Could he try again in 2027?
If Ohtani wants any chance of winning a Cy Young, he needs to be a full-fledged starting pitcher for the entire season. But at this point, can his body hold up a full two-way season? And is a full two-way season from Ohtani more important than him helping the team win a World Series?
The Dodgers have a lot to figure out when it comes to Ohtani next year and in the future. They still have him for seven more years until his age-38 season.
One thing is certain, though. The team cannot afford to have another season like the one he had in 2026.
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