Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani opened the season as a two-way player for the first time in a Dodgers uniform, and through his first 14 starts, was on pace for his best MLB season on the mound with a 1.79 ERA. Offensively, it was more of the same through the first half of the season and a fifth MVP award (and fourth in a row) looked like a given.

Two days before his 32nd birthday, though, Ohtani made what would turn out to be his final pitching start of the season as a knee injury eventually shut him down. It was then revealed that a bicesp injury was also hampering his play, and led to a major drop in his batting over the second half of the season and into October.

After the tumultuous year from the superstar, Ohtani sent a message to fans after the Dodgers were eliminated from the National League Championship Series. He kept things brief in his Instagram post and let his supporters know they were appreciated through a year with many highs and lows.

In other news, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that he has been scouting talent in Nippon Professional League in hopes to get another gem from overseas. Japanese stardom on the Dodgers has become commonplace since Ohtani arrived with players like Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and even manager Dave Roberts' roots of being born in Naha.

Finally, Friedman spoke on a key area of the Dodgers that needs improvement before 2027. There were many areas exposed during the postseason, and despite the bigger magnifying glass put on them, Friedman wanted to ensure that they will separate the real issues versus those that are perhaps generated from onlookers and pundits covering the game.

“What’s important for us is to be able to sift out the noise and isolate what’s real and what things we can improve upon,” Friedman said. “We’ll spend a lot of time really focusing on that in the offseason.”

Here’s all the latest Dodgers news and stories (click the headline for the full article):

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