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Shohei Ohtani can simply do whatever he wants on the baseball field.
Have you hit 50 home runs? Sure. Steal 50 bases? You got it. Do them both in the same season? Sounds good.
Lead the majors in earned run average? If you say so.
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Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
The Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star certainly isn’t living up to the expectations he’s set for himself, owning a lifetime .951 OPS, posting an OPS over 1.000 in three straight years and hitting 54 and 55 homers in each of the last two seasons, respectively.
It’s been a poor year at the plate so far for Ohtani, who is hitting .240 with a .796 OPS. Excluding the shortened 2020 season, those would be the lowest marks of his career.
But he definitely makes up for it on the mound.
After posting seven scoreless innings against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, Ohtani is now pitching to an MLB-best 0.82 ERA.
Ohtani has allowed just four earned runs on the season, half of which came earlier this month against a stout Houston Astros offense, in 44.0 innings.
Shohei Ohtani pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
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“(The) ideal situation is to be great on both sides of the ball,” Ohtani said after his gem in the Dodgers’ 4-0 win over their NL West rivals, via The Athletic . “But the way I look at it is if I don’t contribute offensively, then I know I can contribute on the pitching side of things and vice versa. So I take it as that.”
“He wants to be the best pitcher in baseball, and right now he is,” manager Dave Roberts added. “You can tell he’s hyper-focused on the preparation part of it, and then obviously the days he starts, the execution.”
Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2024 and returned to the mound last summer, pitching to a 2.87 ERA in 14 starts amid his 1.014 OPS, good for his fourth MVP in the last five seasons.
The Dodgers have been cautious with Ohtani’s workload, sometimes only keeping him as a pitcher this season, as his offensive numbers are known to take a hit when he’s on the mound, understandably so.
“It’s interesting because last year there was a lot of talk about him not pitching and just being a hitter,” Roberts said. “Now it’s kind of upside down. I can’t imagine what’s going through his head, but I feel clarity about how we manage him. There’s no way around it. You just try to be fluid and react and react to how he’s feeling.”
But at least the Dodgers currently have the best pitcher in baseball this season hitting at the top of their lineup. It’s just like the pre-DH era, except the pitcher bats first instead of the ninth.
Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Shohei Ohtani delivers a pitch in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California on May 13, 2026. (Gary A. Vasquez/Imagn Images)
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And it shouldn’t surprise anyone if and when Ohtani finds the bat — while still striking out everyone he faces 60 feet, 6 inches away.
