Shohei Ohtani Talks Goals for Dodgers' 2026 Season, Potential Cy Young Award

Shohei Ohtani's main goal for 2026 is to play the first fully healthy two-way season of his Los Angeles Dodgers career, he told reporters via an interpreter on Friday during spring training.

"If the end result is getting a Cy Young, that's great," Ohtani said via his interpreter. "Getting a Cy Young means just being to throw more innings, and pitch throughout the whole season, so if that's the end result, that's a good sign for me.

"That's what I'm more focused on, is just being healthy the whole year."

When asked about his expectations for 2026, Ohtani said again via his interpreter: "Just being healthy, the whole year, as a pitcher and as a hitter. I think that's good for me, obviously, but also good for the team."

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, on the other hand, said Friday that Ohtani "expects to be in the Cy Young conversation."

"I think the regular offseason ramp-up, I think there's certainly a lot more in there," Roberts said about Ohtani. "And regardless of my expectations for him, his are gonna exceed those. I think it's fair to say he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation.

"But we just want him to be healthy and make starts, and all of the numbers and statistics will take care of himself.

Ohtani, who underwent elbow surgeries after both the 2023 and 2024 seasons, made his Dodgers pitching debut last June.

He pitched 47.0 regular-season innings in 14 starts last season, closing out his first campaign back on the mound since 2023 with a 2.87 ERA and 1.043 WHIP.

The two-way star returned to throw 20.1 more innings over four postseason starts, recording a 2-1 record and 4.43 ERA on the Dodgers' way to a second straight World Series.

Ohtani has never won a Cy Young award, although he came in fourth place for the 2022 AL trophy after recording a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings for the Los Angeles Angels that season.

He will now look to return to that level of production while potentially facing an even longer season in 2026. Ohtani said through his interpreter that he "did feel the effect" of playing both as a batter and pitcher during the Dodgers' run to the 2025 World Series, an experience he didn't get during his six-year playoff drought with the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani was back in the bullpen Friday, where he was seen warming up with new Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz. His goal is to ramp up to live batting practice by next week, he told reporters.

Ohtani will batting, but not pitching, for Team Japan in the upcoming World Baseball Classic in early March. Roberts said in January the decision to stay off the WBC mound had been Ohtani's.

The Dodgers will hope that choice will increase the odds that Ohtani is healthy by the time the two-time defending World Series champions kick off the regular season on March 26 at Dodger Stadium.