Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani undergoes surgery: Outlook, timeline for return

The Dodgers announced Tuesday that Shohei Ohtani underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder that resulted from a dislocation. The club added that the two-way star is expected to be ready for spring training.

Ohtani was hurt in Game 2 of the World Series. He attempted to steal second base, sliding into the bag and wincing in pain afterward. He left the field with the trainer, though technically wasn’t replaced, as he was the designated hitter and his spot in the lineup didn’t come up again.

After the game, manager Dave Roberts said that Ohtani had suffered a “little” shoulder subluxation, or dislocation. After a day off between the second and third games of the series, Ohtani was back in the lineup but collected just one hit in the final three games of the series. Even the best hitters in the world can have a few rough games, but perhaps the injury was lingering more than the club let on initially. Roberts implied as much after the series was done, per Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post. Whatever Ohtani’s status was during those games, it’s now clear that his labrum was torn and arthroscopic surgery was necessary.

Although the injury is to Ohtani’s non-throwing arm and he is expected to recover by spring training, it could add another bit of uncertainty heading into 2025. It’s not uncommon for injury recoveries to eventually surge past estimated timelines and this isn’t the only thing Ohtani will be working back from. He underwent UCL surgery late in 2023 and didn’t pitch at all in 2024.

Although he was limited to a designated hitter role in 2024, he still had an elite season. He hit 54 home runs and stole 59 bases, producing a .310/.390/.646 slash line and 181 wRC+ in the process. The Dodgers went on to win the World Series and Ohtani seems like a lock to earn another Most Valuable Player award soon.

Heading into 2025, Ohtani will be trying to get both his right elbow and left shoulder in game shape as he looks to return to being a two-way player. His mound work was probably going be limited anyway after missing an entire season. Whether this new operation adds further limitations or impacts his availability as a hitter remains to be seen. Ohtani has generally shown that it’s best not to doubt his abilities but his unprecedented career means he is always stepping into unknown territory, in a sense, since no player has ever managed his kind of double workload over an extended period of time before.

Depending on how the situation develops, it could impact the offseason for the Dodgers. They have plenty of talented arms in their theoretical 2025 rotation, including Ohtani but also Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Landon Knack, Ben Casparius and others. Clayton Kershaw will presumably be re-signed at some point. However, most of those guys have workload or health concerns, so the club could consider offseason additions even though there’s a large number of names in it. The free-agent market features Jack Flaherty, Corbin Burnes, Blake Snell and dozens of others, while the trade market could potentially have Garrett Crochet leading the pack.