Roundup
Los Angeles Dodgers
Ohtani’s 2027 outlook steadies Dodgers, NL West roundup
No NL West games were played Thursday, but the Dodgers dominated the news cycle with major updates on Shohei Ohtani and their offseason plans.
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There were no NL West games on the schedule Thursday, but the Los Angeles Dodgers still set the tone in the division with several significant updates on Shohei Ohtani and their offseason posture.
Dodgers: Ohtani health update and a "business as usual" winter
MLB Trade Rumors, relaying comments from president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, reports that Shohei Ohtani will not need surgery on the knee and biceps injuries that hampered him in the second half. He’s expected to be fully healthy by early spring, a major relief for a 100-62 division winner building around his unique skill set.
CBS Sports adds that the Dodgers “fully expect” Ohtani to resume pitching in 2027 and are considering three different paths for how to deploy him as a two-way star. That long-range view of Ohtani’s role will shape how Los Angeles structures both its roster and pitching plans over the next two seasons.
On the broader offseason front, MLB Trade Rumors notes that Friedman described the Dodgers’ winter as “business as usual” even after their bid for a three-peat ended with a sweep at the hands of the Brewers, one year after Los Angeles swept Milwaukee in the NLCS. That stance suggests the organization is leaning toward targeted tweaks rather than sweeping change after another 100-win campaign.
Individually, catcher Dalton Rushing is headed for elbow surgery, per MLB Trade Rumors. He’s slated for an internal brace procedure on the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow, with an approximate nine-month recovery window before he can ramp back up. The timeline pushes his return and could affect the Dodgers’ catching depth plans.
Outside views on the Dodgers’ exit and the NL West landscape
For a wider lens on how the Dodgers’ season ended, the latest MLB Trade Rumors podcast features a post-mortem on both Los Angeles and the Cleveland Guardians, along with discussion of the Brewers–Rays matchup and the A’s new front office boss. Around them, the NL West field is already into reflection mode — the Arizona Diamondbacks (86-76), San Diego Padres (91-71), San Francisco Giants (65-97) and Colorado Rockies (58-104) all head into the offseason looking up at a Dodgers club that, for now, plans to stay the course.