Shohei Ohtani undergoes shoulder surgery after playing through torn labrum in World Series

Shohei Ohtani’s shoulder injury in the 2024 World Series was apparently a bit worse than the Los Angeles Dodgers let on.

The Dodgers announced Tuesday, fortuitously coinciding with election day, that their superstar underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder resulting from his bad slide in Game 2 against the New York Yankees. He is reportedly expected to be ready for spring training.

This will be the second year in a row Ohtani underwent a significant surgery, as he needed an internal brace to repair a torn UCL in his pitching arm at the end of last season. He spent all of 2024 rehabbing that elbow while also hitting for the Dodgers.

Ohtani sustained the injury by landing hard on his left arm during the seventh inning. He was in clear pain and was escorted off the field by trainers, to whom Japanese speakers believe he said the shoulder popped out.

It was a scene that stunned a previously jubilant Dodger Stadium, but the Dodgers indicated after the game the injury was only a minor subluxation. He was in the lineup for Game 3 two days later.

Ohtani struggled to make hard contact for the rest of the series, however, and that now makes a bit more sense. He went a combined 1-for-14 with no extra base hits in Games 3, 4 and 5, after hitting .260/.403/.460 in his first 13 career postseason games.

It was very clear Ohtani was still dealing with some sort of discomfort, as he awkwardly ran holding his collar with his left hand when he had to run the bases.

That World Series performance was a quiet end to one of the greatest seasons in MLB history. Despite his struggles, Ohtani will still leave 2024 with his first ring, a presumed third MVP trophy and the first 50-50 season in the history of MLB, all after joining the Dodgers on a record-shattering 10-year, $700 million deal.

Ohtani wasn’t the only Dodger playing through the pain during the postseason, as it was also revealed recently that World Series MVP Freddie Freeman was playing through broken rib cartilage, in addition to a sprained ankle and residual soreness from a fractured finger in August.

Despite two stars hobbled by injuries and perhaps the most injury-riddled pitching staff in baseball, the Dodgers still put away the Yankees in five games for their eighth title in franchise history, with some help from the Yankees themselves.

The closest precedent to Ohtani’s injury is an ominous one for the Dodgers, as Cody Bellinger tore his right labrum while celebrating a home run during the Dodgers’ World Series run in 2020. He underwent surgery on Nov. 17 and was ready for Opening Day the next season, but his production fell off a cliff after that and he was ultimately non-tendered after the 2022 season.

However, it’s worth noting that Bellinger injured the more important front arm of his batting stance, while Ohtani’s injury is in the opposite shoulder. The bigger issue for the Dodgers might be if this injury affects Ohtani’s UCL rehab at all, as he is expected to return as a pitcher in 2025.