“If I’d been by myself this time, I probably would have had a lot more time to think about everything, and I imagine it would have been much harder mentally,” the married father of two said in Japanese. “But I had a house full of people around me, so that made a big difference in terms of how I felt.
Read more Dodgers name Tarik Skubal to start NLDS opener against Braves
“As for my arm, I did my best to use my left hand with my (18-month-old) daughter. I can manage with just my left hand when it comes to her. My son (born in June) is a little too much for that, though. So I mainly focused on taking care of my daughter with my left hand.”
Parenting obligations aside, Ohtani said he “feels really good overall” after spending two weeks on the IL and returning to play the final five games of the regular season.
“I do feel like my swing is in a better place, feels smooth, and just a little tweaks here and there, and I’ll be ready for tomorrow,” he said before Friday’s workout ahead of their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
Ohtani acknowledged that “playing through pain isn’t ideal for me – but that’s probably true for everyone” and said he isn’t sure what will have to be addressed with his left knee or right arm – the areas that pained him enough to land him on the IL – this offseason.
“I haven’t been able to get a good grasp of the root cause of all this,” he said through his interpreter. “I think that process is going to happen during the offseason when I’m going to have a little bit more time to be able to address it. But as of now, it’s something I’m just going to have to manage.”
Ohtani returned for the final five games of the regular season and went 5 for 21 (.238) with eight strikeouts and just one extra-base hit (a double). During the bye-week workouts this week, he took batting practice on the field on Tuesday, Wednesday and again Friday. He faced Yoshinobu Yamamoto in an intrasquad game on Wednesday then took live at-bats against Emmet Sheehan during Friday night’s workout.
“During the (time on the) IL, I pretty much knew I wasn’t going to pitch the rest of the season. So I did focus on just the hitting aspect of the game and coming to understanding and wanting to execute and try new things when I came back,” he said.
Read more Dodgers vs. Braves: NL Division Series scouting report, prediction
“So those were the things that I really took the IL time to think through – what I wanted to try when I was back in action.”
Ohtani said he will know “pretty quickly” if he has recovered his proper swing mechanics once the best-of-five NLDS begins with Game 1 on Saturday afternoon.
“I can figure out how I feel, especially in my setup,” he said.
“But I do want to get into the postseason, feel the atmosphere, and again kind of recalibrate what I have to.”
ROSTER TALK
The Dodgers will set their NLDS roster on Saturday morning. Roberts said it will include 14 position players and 12 pitchers. He said it is “possible” there will be room for both a left-handed bat off the bench and a devoted pinch-runner – roles that would be filled by Josue De Paula and Hyeseong Kim. That would likely leave reserve outfielder Alex Call as the odd man out.
AWARD WINNERS
De Paula and right-hander Christian Zazueta were named the 2026 winners of the Branch Rickey awards as the Dodgers’ Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year.
The 21-year-old De Paula was named the Double-A Player of the Year after hitting .303 with a .948 OPS, 27 home runs and 104 RBIs in 124 games for the Tulsa Drillers then making his major-league debut in September.
Zazueta, also 21, was named the Dodgers’ top minor-league pitcher for the second year in a row. He was 6-4 with a 3.65 ERA in 23 games at Class-A and Double-A.
Read more Dodgers see their age as an asset going into NLDS against Braves
The two will receive their awards during a ceremony before Game 2 on Sunday.