Dodgers' Dave Roberts Doesn't Know How Much Shohei Ohtani Will Pitch This Season

The Los Angeles Dodgers got the full range of star two-way player Shohei Ohtani last season with his return to the mound.

After undergoing his second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani debuted on the mound for Los Angeles last season, and he was excellent in the process.

Los Angeles held Ohtani out for the first bit of the season as he fully recovered from the injury. But once he got back on the mound, Ohtani looked very much like the pitcher he was before the surgery.

Ohtani made 14 starts for the Dodgers in 2025, putting up an ERA of 2.87 over 47 innings of work. The right-handed pitcher also performed well in the playoffs, setting the stage for a full season of him being a two-way star this year.

However, it seems that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn't entirely sure how much Ohtani will pitch during the year. Roberts said that for right now he is taking things day-to-day with the right-hander, and the team will move forward from there.

“I think the range question is fair,” Roberts said last week. “It’s just not an exact science. As much as people want to think it might be, and some people probably do — innings aren’t all created equal

"All throws aren’t created equal."

The key for the Dodgers will be to make sure that Ohtani is healthy for the playoffs again, and this could see them rest him during the year. The last thing that Los Angeles wants is for Ohtani to injure himself on the mound again, so staying cautious will be crucial for both sides.

“We talk to him a lot on how he’s feeling, and if there’s days that we have to kind of give him a couple extra days, we’re willing to do that," Roberts said. "But yeah, I just don’t know the range. I really don’t.”

Ohtani is the ultimate competitor, so he likely won't want to take extra days off. But in the end, he always understands the bigger goals of the team for the 2026 season.

His personal goal that he set before the new year was to win the Cy Young award in the National League. In his first start of the year, Ohtani went six scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out six batters against the Cleveland Guardians.

Going after a third straight World Series title is the only focus of this entire team. But if Ohtani can claim the Cy Young award in the process, nobody will be complaining.

The Dodgers gave Ohtani a little extra rest ahead of his second start of the year, pushing him back to Wednesday in the series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays. The start also comes ahead of an off-day, something the Dodgers tried to do a lot last year and seem to be planning to do this year. That gives Ohtani a full day to recover after his two-way duties.