LOS ANGELES — MLB got the signature moment it dreamed of when the 2023 World Baseball Classic ended with Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to clinch the championship for Team Japan.
They won’t get an encore in the 2026 event – at least not with Ohtani on the mound.
“He’s not going to pitch in the WBC,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Saturday at the team’s annual DodgerFest event. “But he will be ramping up his arm to get ready for this season. I don’t know how many innings he threw last year (47 in the regular season, 20⅓ in the postseason), but obviously, with the full offseason, going north of what he did last year.”
Ohtani was less forthright when he was asked about the WBC, which takes place in the middle of March. He said he would be “fully prepared” to DH for defending champion Team Japan, but as far as pitching, “I have to see how my body feels, feel the progression (of his throwing program) and see what happens.”
Roberts said the decision not to pitch “was absolutely his call.”
“I wasn’t surprised. I can’t even say I was relieved,” Roberts said. “He wants to – understanding what he did last year, what he had to go through to then, how best to prepare himself for ’26 to do both – it just seemed like the right decision. So, I wasn’t surprised, and feel really good with that one.”
Given the star power on their roster, the Dodgers will not be represented as much as expected in the WBC. Only four players are confirmed as participating – catcher Will Smith (Team USA), infielder Hyeseong Kim (Korea) and Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Japan). Clayton Kershaw, who retired following the 2025 season, is on the roster for Team USA.
Right-hander Roki Sasaki indicated he was interested in playing for Team Japan, but it was a “team decision” that he not participate and instead focus on preparing for his second MLB season. Because Sasaki spent extended time on the injured list with a shoulder injury, the Dodgers were able to prevent him from playing in the WBC. Yamamoto – who pitched 211 innings in 2025, including 2⅔ innings in World Series Game 7 on zero days of rest – will pitch for Japan.
First baseman Freddie Freeman played for Team Canada in the 2017 and 2023 WBC as a way to honor the memory of his mother. But he withdrew his name from the team this year for “personal reasons,” which he declined to specify.
“There’s no health (issue). I feel great. Body feels great,” Freeman said. “I needed to be close to California. That’s all I’ll say. But it’s personal.”
Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez withdrew his name from consideration for the Dominican Republic’s roster, citing the need for more recovery time after the Dodgers’ late finish in 2025.
Veteran infielder Miguel Rojas was planning to play for Venezuela but had to drop out when he was unable to obtain adequate insurance. The same issue led to the Houston Astros asking Jose Altuve not to play for Venezuela and eight players, including Francisco Lindor and Carlos Correa, were dropped from Puerto Rico’s roster.
“Definitely disappointed,” Rojas said Saturday. “I didn’t know that my chance to go represent my country for the first and only time, probably as a player, was gonna get blocked because of an insurance problem. Even though we know we have to be ready for the season and we have to play and be healthy for our contract, at the end of the day, we didn’t know all those restrictions were gonna be in place the way they are right now.”
Puerto Rico, which is set to host Pool A from March 6-11 at Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, is reportedly considering withdrawing from the tournament after the issues with setting a roster.
“My only question is – why is it just with our (Latin American) countries – like Venezuela, Puerto Rico, a couple Dominican players? I don’t see that happening with the United States or happening with Japan,” Rojas said. “I’m not trying to attack anybody, or attack what’s going on, or seeing what’s happening behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, it feels like it’s just happening with the players that want to represent their country from Latin America. So there’s a lot of things I would like to talk about with someone in control, with someone from MLB. … If I can still play in the big leagues with the Dodgers, why not go to play for my team in Venezuela and represent my country?”
In 2023, insurance issues prevented Kershaw from playing for Team USA.
WBC rosters are due on Tuesday and are scheduled to be announced on Thursday night.
HEALTH CARE
Utility man Tommy Edman said he was able to discard the boot he was wearing following right ankle surgery in November 2½ weeks ago and started “baseball activities” this past week. Edman had ligament repair and bone chips removed after repeatedly injuring the ankle over the past two seasons.
He said being ready for Opening Day is “a possibility” but it seems more likely his recovery will extend into the season.
“I am doing everything I can to be ready for Opening Day. But if it comes around to that time and my ankle is 90%, not quite where I need it to be, I’m going to do my best to be patient with it and get it back to 100% and not dealing with it for the rest of the year,” he said Saturday.
Reliever Brusdar Graterol had the labrum in his throwing shoulder surgically repaired two weeks after the end of the 2024 World Series and missed all of 2025. He said he has been following a program of long-tossing but expects to start throwing off a mound in the next week. Pitchers and catchers report for spring training on Feb. 12.
Meanwhile, left-hander Blake Snell said he is “going to go slower” in his spring buildup after a shoulder injury landed him on the injured list for four months in 2025.
“Last year, I had so much to prove, I got way too excited and was really pushing to get to spring, get through spring,” said Snell, who signed a five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers before last season. “This year, I’m going to be a little slower just in how I ramp up. Be a lot more smarter on that.”
Snell said his shoulder “just never felt great, never felt what the normal I’ve felt my whole career.”
He said his shoulder feels stronger after going through a lot of physical therapy this offseason and “the goal is to be ready Opening Day, but I’m going to take my time.”
Roberts said he is fine with that, given the short offseason for all of the Dodgers’ pitchers.
“Whatever is best for Blake – or any of our pitchers, for that matter – we’re gonna do,” Roberts said. “If it doesn’t line up with Opening Day, the first series, then it doesn’t. And I’ll say that about all of the pitchers.”