Shohei Ohtani is going for another repeat, not just with the Los Angeles Dodgers but with Samurai Japan in next year’s World Baseball Classic.
Ohtani confirmed his participation in next year’s event on Instagram on Monday night, writing in Japanese, “Happy to play and represent Japan again.”
The four-time MVP has won two World Series titles since he last donned Japan’s uniform in 2023, when he closed out the gold medal game against the United States by striking out his then-Angels teammate Mike Trout.
It remains to be seen whether Ohtani will be available as a pitcher for this next edition of the event. Ohtani started pitching again in June for the first time since undergoing a second major elbow surgery that ended his 2023 season in September of that season. He wound up starting four games for the Dodgers during their title run, including getting the start on short rest for the decisive Game 7 of the World Series.
After winning the MVP again this month, Ohtani said through an interpreter he’d like to go wire-to-wire on the mound in 2026, if possible.
“I do plan on being able to pitch off the mound from the beginning of the season,” Ohtani said. “The biggest thing is to be able to stay healthy throughout the season and hopefully be able to start and end the season on the mound.”
Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes left the door open at this month’s general manager’s meetings in Las Vegas.
“That’s a conversation we’ll have with him as it gets deeper into the offseason,” Gomes said. “It will probably look more like a normal schedule than last year, but obviously that can be fluid. And everything we’ll do is with a big-picture mindset. So those are conversations we’ll have as we get closer.”
At the time, Gomes said the club was still awaiting requests from its players for WBC participation, though the Dodgers are certainly expected to be amongst the teams most represented at the event — including Ohtani’s potential Japanese teammates Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.
Ohtani has already checked off virtually every box possible through his first two seasons after signing a then-record 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers. That extended through last season, when he slugged a career-best 55 home runs, won another MVP, returned to the mound and helped lead the Dodgers to the first back-to-back championships baseball has seen in 25 years.
Now, Ohtani has a chance at even more hardware.