The Galactic Empire of baseball has assembled at Camelback Ranch. Their first spring game is in just three days. The anticipation and excitement surrounding the start of the 2026 season is brewing.
On Tuesday, both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani faced live hitters, and the latter’s arm will be preserved during the World Baseball Classic to prepare for the regular season ahead. Instead of fans having to wait nearly three months to see Ohtani on the mound, the expectation is that he will be ready to go at the start of the year.
Advertisement
The Dodgers are willing to put an innings limit for Ohtani to begin the season, notes Sonja Chen of MLB.com, as they gradually increased his limit by one inning for every two starts once he made his return to pitching last year. Ohtani still has hefty goals for what he can do on the mound this season, and his early season workload will ultimately be dependent on his discretion.
The Dodgers won’t operate by the rigid rules they set for much of last year, but it is likely that Ohtani will be limited innings-wise, at least to begin the season… But if the Dodgers have learned anything in the past two years, it’s that they should never count out Ohtani when he has his mind set on achieving something.
“The fact that he is saying that, he seems like he’s on a mission, pitching-wise,” Friedman said. “Whenever we’ve seen him on a mission, good things happen.”
Links
Teoscar Hernández is back in left field for the 2026 season, and he has shown up to camp with a slimmer physique, having lost 12 lbs over the offseason. Hernández reflected on this past offseason, where his name was the subject of trade conversations while his role as right fielder was removed with the signing of Kyle Tucker, and is eager to be a key contributor to a team eyeing its third consecutive championship, notes Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“My whole career I used to be 204, 205 (pounds), that range. Last year was a little over. But I’m back to normal right now… I’m ready in any way they need me. I just want to be there, be on the field and play every day.”
Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández will begin the 2026 season on the injured list, opening a runway for Hyeseong Kim to earn the starting second base job. Kim spoke about the changes he made to his swing throughout the course of last year and how he’s entering this spring working on feeling more comfortable at the plate, per Jack Vita of the Los Angeles Times.
“The swing changes we made last year, I would say I felt about 70% comfortable with,” Kim said through an interpreter on Monday. “And then, this offseason and spring training, we were able to recognize some of the other stuff that we needed to work on, so I’m working very hard to make those changes again this year.”
Read the full article here
