Shohei Ohtani Will Not Undergo Offseason Surgery

Shohei Ohtani dealt with numerous injuries throughout the season, which affected both his availability to pitch and his ability to hit for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Ohtani suggested that he might need surgery to address some of his injuries, which included left knee pain and right biceps discomfort.

“Just had a lot of different stuff going on,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said. “Knee was bothering him off and on, and it was just a little bit of an unfortunate game of whack-a-mole. The knee got to a better spot, and then just kind of the biceps area was bothering him.

“You know, just a number of different things. Some that would calm down for some period. Some that would get re-irritated. It was just a lot of different things he was trying to contend with at once.”

Shohei Ohtani not undergoing surgery

After the season ended, Ohtani met with doctors, and it was determined he will not undergo any procedures this offseason, Friedman said.

“Yeah, that’s not on the table,” Friedman said. “He got assessed.”

Instead, Ohtani was told to rest as the best course of action to treat his ailments.

Shohei Ohtani resuming pitching in 2027

Friedman also confirmed Ohtani will resume pitching in the 2027 season, which Ohtani already said he plans to do. However, that could come with increased limitations as the Dodgers try to avoid another season like 2026.

“Yeah, I mean we’ll have to figure it out,” Friedman said. “We’ve talked about this a lot. This is unprecedented what he’s doing. So obviously for us it’s unprecedented. We don’t have any experience to draw from. We can’t go look at how other situations have played out to try to learn from the good and the bad.

“We have to just all figure it out together, and I am not only expecting him to pitch; we’re excited about him pitching. So now it’s about how do we do that? How do we manage through a long season and have him at his best going into October.

“That’s a challenge, and we’ve got to figure it out together. And I’m confident that we will continue to learn from things as we go and continue to make it better. And I feel confident we will.”

Ohtani ended the season going 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 0.95 WHIP in 14 starts. He last took the mound on July 3 and did not pitch again during the 2026 season.