We are a little over a month away from the start of the World Baseball Classic and the picture is becoming clearer as to who will be there and who will not. And even in the case of players who have confirmed their presence, some details are surfacing in preparation for the international tournament.
This is among others the case of Shohei Ohtani. His manager Dave Roberts told us that he will not pitch for Team Japan during the Classic.
I wasn’t surprised. I can’t even say I was relieved. With what he did last year, what he had to go through, and to best prepare himself for 2026, it just seemed like the right decision.
Yes, yes skipper is not surprised, the baseball world may be at least a little, since the main person himself had not put a cross on the mound only an hour before Roberts came out publicly.
Ohtani took the mound in the regular season for the first time as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers this season, after recovering from elbow surgery since September 2023, which kept him off the mound until June 2025.
The fact that Ohtani would certainly not have been covered by insurance as a pitcher during the Classic probably weighed in the balance. Although the Dodgers manager said the decision was made by Ohtani himself, he added that the club would have supported him if he had decided to take the mound for the Japanese team.
Ohtani will instead serve as the designated hitter for Team Japan and try to help the club defend its 2023 title, a memorable tournament where Ohtani came out of the bullpen in the ninth inning to face then-teammate Mike Trout, whom he struck out to clinch the championship.
