TORONTO, ON – NOVEMBER 01: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after winning Game Seven of the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Saturday, November 1, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated their back-to-back World Series championship with a parade on Monday and it was made clear how the players view their goals for next season.
“Job in 2024 done,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said during the celebration, per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic. “Job in 2025 done. Job in 2026 starts now.”
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts joined the players in making public proclamations that their goal is to now secure a “three-peat” as World Series champions. But the team won’t be able to merely run it back.
With Major League Baseball’s oldest group of position players, the Dodgers are going to have to consider some tweaks to the roster as the core of stars continues to age. Third baseman Max Muncy could very well be replaced with a younger option this winter. Veteran starter Clayton Kershaw has already announced his decision to retire. And two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will have to consider a Dodgers change sooner or later.
“Shohei, you’re 31 years old,” Ohtani’s father, Toru Ohtani, wrote to him in Japanese in an open congratulatory letter, according to a translation from the Los Angeles Times. “I think that as a baseball player, you’re in your prime, but there will come a time when you have to decide between pitching and hitting. When you can’t pitch anymore, you can be an outfielder. I think that if you practice, you can definitely do it.”
Ohtani is one of the highest paid players in baseball because of his ability to serve as a frontline starter as well as an All-Star caliber slugger. But as the Dodgers relied on him to carry both the rotation and the batting order in the playoffs, it was apparent that he was physically taxed.
Ohtani suffered a notable offensive slump, albeit outside of some historic individual games, during the playoffs. And his final pitching appearance in Game 7 of the World Series was a letdown.
So while Ohtani seems set to continue serving as a two-way player for the Dodgers next year, one can imagine that the end to that phenomenon is in sight. Whenever that end is reached, though, Ohtani should have a productive future as one of the best outfielders in the game.