What the Dodgers can learn from Shohei Ohtani’s injury-plagued 2026, and what it could change next

A season defined by recurring left knee and right biceps issues left Los Angeles relying on narrow windows of rest, while the team acknowledged it may not have been proactive enough early in the timeline.

By The Apex Times Newsroom3 min readAI-assisted Apex article

The Dodgers’ central lesson from Shohei Ohtani’s injury-plagued 2026 is simple: getting him to the postseason feeling as close to his best as possible requires earlier, clearer workload and treatment decisions than the ones that were made during the regular season.

Ohtani’s Dodgers year began with knee inflammation that surfaced publicly after a start in Pittsburgh on June 11. The organization initially believed the left knee problem was tied to a stolen-base play, but Ohtani later pointed to something awry with his pitching mechanics as the cause.

As the season moved toward mid-summer, the pattern turned from a single setback into a two-issue problem. On July 3, Ohtani exited a start with right biceps tightness, and he later said it had bothered him for “a couple months.” After a strong start phase that included a 0.74 ERA through his first 10 starts, his ERA rose to 4.38 over his final four pitching starts, all occurring while he was managing the knee injury.

Los Angeles’ attempts to manage the situation became more visible in late July. Ohtani was taken out of the rotation indefinitely on July 19 after continuing knee irritation, and the team shut him down from throwing on July 25 after regression with his knee. The Dodgers were not discussed as placing him on the IL at that early stage, choosing instead to keep working within a rest-and-re-evaluate framework.

When the plan shifted toward a return, timing problems followed. After more than two weeks without throwing, Ohtani began progression work, including a bullpen session on Aug. 14 and facing hitters on Aug. 23. The article notes that during this ramp, Ohtani’s hitting production declined, with him hitting.205 and posting a.666 OPS across his final 29 regular-season games starting Aug. 8.

The Dodgers also learned from how the pitching return was managed. After an Aug. 28 bullpen session went poorly, the team reevaluated his plan and pushed back the next steps for returning him to the mound. By Sept. 3, after a game in which he looked particularly physically compromised at the plate, they rested him indefinitely, weighing whether IL placement made sense.

Ohtani ultimately missed more than a week of games and was placed on a 15-day IL on Sept. 11, with manager Dave Roberts saying that, with hindsight, he would have preferred to put Ohtani on the IL earlier. Ohtani returned for the final five regular-season games, then entered the postseason, where the article reports he went 3-for-20 with no extra-base hits through his first six postseason games before improving late in the NL Championship Series.

In the season-ending aftermath, the Dodgers’ takeaway was not just that injuries happened, but that there was no clear blueprint for handling a two-way star. The team’s approach depended heavily on communication with Ohtani about how he felt, and the organization acknowledged it had to balance Ohtani’s self-assessment with the realities of how his body looked and performed. The next step, as framed by Ohtani, is to revisit treatment and training for his planned full two-way return in 2027.

Why It Matters

It highlights the roster-building and management challenge of keeping a two-way centerpiece healthy without waiting until symptoms force a late course correction.
The timing issues described in the Dodgers’ timeline show how a ramp back from throwing can overlap with a hitting decline, complicating postseason readiness even when the player returns late.
The article suggests the Dodgers’ best lever is earlier proactive decision-making once physical compromise becomes evident, not only after performance and game-day looks worsen.
For the 2027 title picture, the Dodgers’ 2026 lesson is that communication alone may not be enough unless it is matched by decisive workload and treatment timing.

Sources

Key Facts

The Dodgers’ postseason goal in 2026 was framed as getting Shohei Ohtani to feel as good as possible in October, after lingering injuries affected him during the regular season.
Ohtani’s left knee inflammation first became public on June 11 after a start in Pittsburgh, and Ohtani later suggested pitching mechanics were to blame rather than a stolen-base aggravation.
On July 3, Ohtani exited with right biceps tightness that he said had bothered him “a couple months ago,” and his pitching effectiveness declined after a strong 0.74 ERA through his first 10 starts.
Ohtani was taken out of the rotation indefinitely on July 19 and shut down from throwing on July 25 due to knee regression.
After a progression period beginning in early August, Ohtani’s hitting dropped off, with.205 batting average and.666 OPS across his final 29 regular-season games beginning Aug. 8.
Manager Dave Roberts later said that with hindsight, he would have preferred to place Ohtani on the IL earlier, after Ohtani was put on a 15-day IL on Sept. 11.
In the NLCS, Ohtani’s late improvement included his first homer in nearly two months in Game 4, but the Dodgers were eliminated in a sweep by the Brewers.