Shohei Ohtani will not pitch for Japan in WBC: 'Just seemed like the right decision' (2026)

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The 2023 World Baseball Classic ended with a matchup of Angels teammates, Shohei Ohtani pitching to Mike Trout with the game on the line. In a showdown between MVPs, Ohtani struck out Trout on a 3-and-2 slider, giving Japan its third WBC championship.

There won’t be similar dramatics for this edition — at least not with Ohtani on the mound. During DodgerFest on Saturday, manager Dave Roberts cleared up one key question heading into spring training and the March tournament.

“He’s not gonna pitch in the WBC, but he will be ramping up his arm to get ready for the season,” Roberts said, adding that Ohtani made the decision.

“I wasn’t surprised,” Roberts said. “I can’t even say I was relieved. Understanding what he did last year, understanding what he had to go through, to then how best to prepare himself for ’26 to do both, it just seemed like the right decision.”

Ohtani said in November he would participate in the WBC but did not signal whether he would pitch. When Team Japan’s roster was announced Monday, manager Hirokazu Ibata did not say if Ohtani would pitch, saying only they would get a better sense in spring training. Speaking with reporters before Roberts, Ohtani said he wasn’t sure if he would pitch during the tournament.

“In terms of the World Baseball Classic, I just have to see how my body feels, continue to feel the progression and see what happens so I’m gonna be fully prepared as a DH,” he said through an interpreter.

The expectation has been he will be able to pitch without restrictions from the start of the season. “I’m not going to manage him differently as far as each outing,” Roberts said. “There’s certainly going to be extra time, it’s not a five-day, six-day rotation. So there’s going to be rest in between. But outside of that, it’s not going to be the two-inning, three-inning [start], he’s just going to be used as a normal pitcher.”

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

In 2023, Ohtani was the MVP of the WBC with a .435 batting average and 1.86 ERA. Five months later Ohtani was pulled from a start at Angel Stadium for what ultimately was revealed to be a torn elbow ligament.

Ohtani had his second Tommy John surgery in September 2024 and did not return to pitching until last June with the Dodgers.

In his first year pitching for the Dodgers, Ohtani finished the regular season with a 2.87 ERA in 47 innings. In the playoffs he posted a 4.43 ERA in 20-1/3 innings over four starts — including one in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series in which he struck out 10 while hitting three home runs, a performance Roberts called “probably the greatest postseason performance of all time” and earned him the series MVP.

MLB players like Ohtani and Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto are expected to join Team Japan for exhibition games on March 2. Japan will open WBC play March 6 against Taiwan.

Dodgers right-hander Roki Sasaki, who will be returning to the starting rotation after missing most of his rookie season because of a shoulder injury, said Saturday that the Dodgers made him unavailable for the WBC. Sasaki was on Team Japan in 2023, starting two games, including a dramatic semifinal win over Mexico.

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Miguel Rojas on running it back

(John McCoy / Getty Images)

World Series hero Miguel Rojas said there is constant communication between him and Kiké Hernández about his return to the Dodgers. In his mind, he has no doubt the free agent, who underwent surgery in November to repair a torn left elbow extensor muscle, will re-sign.

“We all know how important he is for the clubhouse, for the organization for the fans, for the city of L.A., and he deserves to be here with us, too,” Rojas said.

“Michael Jordan couldn’t do it without Scottie Pippen and the other guys on the team,” he added.

Rojas understands it’s just a matter of giving Hernández time to heal from his surgery, which will delay his start of the season and force him to miss out on playing for Puerto Rico in the upcoming WBC.

Rojas also addressed his disappointment in not being able to play for Venezuela in the WBC.

“I didn’t know that my chance to go represent my country for the first and only time, probably as a player, was going to get caught up because of an insurance problem,” he said.

He also questioned why so many Latin players from Venezuela, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have been dealing with the same problems.

“I don’t see that happening with the United States, or happening with Japan,” Rojas said.

Insurance was required to guarantee his $5.5-million salary in case he missed Dodgers games because of injuries incurred during the WBC.

Players can be deemed uninsurable for several reasons, a source told The Times in 2023, when Clayton Kershaw couldn’t play for Team USA because his injury history made obtaining insurance impossible. Included are players who finished the previous season on the injured list or spent considerable time on the injured list. Also uninsurable are players diagnosed with a “chronic condition.”

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Freddie Freeman on withdrawing from WBC

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Freddie Freeman decided to withdraw from representing Team Canada in the WBC, but the reasons behind it have nothing to do with his health.

“I feel great, my body feels great,” he said Saturday. “Canada knows it’s a personal reason and you guys will probably hear about it in a month or two, but they’re very supportive.”

The only reason he hinted at was the traveling distance. Canada is scheduled to compete in pool A in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they will face Colombia, Panama, Puerto Rico and Cuba. Freeman said he cannot be away from his family and needs to be close to California.

“That’s all I’ll say,” Freeman said.

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Surgery never an option for Blake Snell

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Coming into the 2026 season, left-hander Blake Snell said he feels good. He’s just going to ramp up his arm slowly, though his plan is still to be ready for opening day.

“[My shoulder] never felt great,” he said Saturday. “Never felt what I was, you know, the normal that I’ve felt my whole career.”

During the offseason last year, Snell said he felt like he was rushing into it because he just wanted to pitch. He ended up making two starts before being placed on the injured list for four months, though when he returned in August Snell rounded into form and became a postseason stalwart. (He won his first three playoff starts and appeared in three World Series games.)

This time around, he rested the shoulder and went through a lot of physical therapy, which he says has helped make his shoulder feel stronger. When asked if surgery was ever an option, he shook his head and said no.

“I’m going to ramp up slowly,” Snell said. “That’s all I’m doing.”