Before Shohei Ohtani’s first bullpen session at the start of spring training, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was not subtle as he set the stage for the two-way phenom’s first full season as a pitcher in Dodger blue.
“I think there’s certainly a lot more in there,” the skipper said. “And regardless of my expectations for him, his are going to exceed those. And I think it’s fair to say he expects to be in the Cy Young conversation.”
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The road to the game’s highest honor for pitchers is an arduous one, a six-month marathon of mound performance requiring both quality and quantity of innings. That’s true for those who are strictly pitching and also for Ohtani, the only Cy Young hopeful in history who doubles as one of the best hitters on the planet. As was the case with Ohtani’s many other past pursuits of greatness, this goal is unprecedented, bordering on unfathomable.
But he had to start somewhere, and his first outing of 2026 was a step in the right direction.
Facing the Cleveland Guardians on an unusually chilly and drizzly Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium, Ohtani delivered six scoreless innings in the Dodgers’ 4-1 victory, allowing just one hit across an impressive outing that included a few flashes of wildness but mostly featured Ohtani on the attack to great effect. The lone hit didn’t come until Rhys Hoskins scooped a low-and-away sweeper down the left-field line for a double with two outs in the fourth inning.
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Otherwise, Cleveland’s only offensive successes came courtesy of Ohtani’s occasional lapses in command, which led to three walks and a hit-by-pitch. On the whole, the Guardians’ bats did little to combat Ohtani’s deep repertoire, which helped him rack up six strikeouts, all of the swinging variety.
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Ohtani’s pitch mix Tuesday looked largely familiar to what we’ve seen in the past, with a few interesting alterations to keep an eye on. The velocity on all of his pitches was down a tick or two from his season averages last year, but Ohtani ran his heater up to 99.2 mph in the first inning, so it’s not like he was soft-tossing. In terms of usage, the most notable aspect of Ohtani’s plan of attack in his season debut was an increased reliance on his mid-70s curveball and terrific, high-80s splitter, two offerings that have generally lagged behind the sweeper, his go-to secondary pitch, in recent years.
The sweeper still played a key role against Cleveland — Ohtani punctuated his outing by getting Hoskins to flail at one for strike three to end the sixth — but it’s rare for that pitch to register as Ohtani’s fourth-most used offering. Whether that reflects just Tuesday’s game plan or a larger shift toward a new diet of offspeed and breaking pitches remains to be seen, but pitchers with Ohtani’s depth of arsenal are always worth monitoring for such evolutions.
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The intrigue surrounding Ohtani’s pitching form was ramped up entering Tuesday, considering how little we saw of him on the mound in preseason. Ohtani did not pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic, and he made just two official spring training starts, with the rest of his prep work taking place in bullpens and simulated settings on the backfields. A week before his regular-season debut, he struck out 11 Angels in his final spring training tune-up, a promising preview of what was to come. But that outing required 86 pitches to complete just four innings. On Tuesday, Ohtani needed 87 tosses to finish six frames, an encouraging uptick in efficiency, even factoring in the intermittent command woes.
The most amusing moment of the night came after Ohtani’s fifth inning of work. Upon getting Steven Kwan to fly out to end the frame, Ohtani calmly strolled toward the dugout, only to suddenly remember that he was due to lead off the bottom of the inning at the plate. Before he made it to the steps, Ohtani scampered back toward the on-deck circle to prepare for his third plate appearance of the game.
This unique sequence, in which he goes directly from pitching to hitting in-game, is hardly new for Ohtani, so perhaps the rare moment of forgetfulness was a physical Freudian slip of sorts, a subtle admission that his current focus is indeed tilted toward the mound, with the slugging the side gig. A more likely interpretation is that Ohtani is human and simply lost track of the batting order, but how he balances his two-way responsibilities this season will be fascinating to watch, especially if the Cy Young Award is indeed in his sights.
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So far this season, Ohtani hasn’t quite settled in at the plate, as he’s still searching for his first extra-base hit. Granted, he’s far from the only Dodgers hitter trying to find his stride, and he did reach base three times Tuesday, with two walks and a single. But when the standard has been set at the heights Ohtani has reached with the bat, even small samples without standout production become noteworthy.
Based on his track record, it won’t be long before Ohtani starts swinging it as well as anyone. And while we wait for that inevitable hot streak at the plate, there’s plenty to appreciate about the pitching side of Ohtani, with one start down and a 0.00 ERA intact.
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