lockout

LAS VEGAS — When the Dodgers and Cubs met at the beginning of August, it was notable that Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong was even challenging Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani for National League most valuable player.

Ohtani was on a streak of three straight MVP seasons and working to return to the mound after what was expected to be a temporary shutdown around the All-Star break. So even as Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong traded leadoff home runs, it felt like a peak in a race that could tilt in Ohtani’s favor in the final months of the season.

Tilt it did — the other way.

Ohtani never did return to the mound, and his offense suffered as injuries mounted down the stretch. Crow-Armstrong never cooled off and ran away with the MVP, officially claiming the award Thursday in a unanimous vote. He was the 11th unanimous NL MVP in the history of the award. Ohtani finished second.

Ohtani’s two-way skill set is so unique that any time he pitches and hits for an entire season, he’s practically guaranteed the MVP — he won the award twice with the Angels in 2021 and 2023 before winning two with the Dodgers in 2024 and 2025. But the Dodgers’ first attempt at guiding him though a full two-way season crashed and burned in the wake of a lingering left knee injury and recurring right biceps issue.

Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs.

(Isaac Wasserman / Getty Images)

The Dodgers are set on having Ohtani return to two-way duties in 2027. But now they’re left to diagnose what went wrong this year and figure out how to avoid the same pitfalls moving forward.

“The good thing is, it’s going to be a normal offseason,” general manager Brandon Gomes said, referring to Ohtani’s health status. “And as we get deeper into the offseason, understanding what our roster looks like, and then having those conversations of, ‘How do we best lay this out to set everybody up to be as good as they can come October?’

“And that’s always the goal. I know it’s so boring and we pound it into the ground. But I think for Sho in particular, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s get back to feeling 100%, have the normal offseason, like you’re going to have, and then have that conversation based on what our team looks like and rotation and all of that.”

The Dodgers have made clear that plotting Ohtani’s pitching plan will be a collaborative effort that will involve conversations throughout the year. But they have plenty of options for how they could manage his workload.

They could pull him from the batting order on days he pitches, and/or build in more full recovery days after his starts on the mound. They add more days in between his pitching starts. They could have him lighten his pitching load midseason and then ramp up again for the postseason. They could delay his return to the mound.

“I think Shohei’s open to putting the team in the best position to win,” Gomes said. “And I think that is the number one thing that he’s shown over and over again, is that he cares deeply about the Dodgers winning and puts that at the forefront. So I think that’s why these conversations are really important.”

The Dodgers are missing one major piece of information that will affect their path forward: the length of the 2027 season.

Privately, baseball agents and executives’ estimates span a wide range of possibilities, from a sub-100-game season, to a late start but no games lost. It will remain ambiguous well into the lockout, which owners are expected to impose when the current collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.

So, pitchers across MLB will have the unenviable task of planning their offseason buildup without the clarity of an opening-day target.

In that kind of environment, it could be in Ohtani’s best interest to put off a pitching ramp-up at least until the lockout ends and the season schedule is set. But he and the Dodgers have a little over two weeks to talk through those decisions. Once the lockout begins, teams will be restricted from communicating with the players on their 40-man rosters.

Said Gomes: “I feel strongly that Sho will have himself prepared in the way that he feels is best to go out and dominate next year.”

LAS VEGAS — Standing outside of a packed conference room, half a day into General Managers meetings, Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said none of his conversations leading up to or since arriving in Las Vegas had painted a clear picture of how the free agent or trade markets would play out over this month.

The Dodgers are going to take a “business as usual” approach to the offseason, prepared to react whenever those markets reveal themselves. But even if Gomes and president of baseball operations Andrew Freidman aren’t ready to predict how threat of a lockout — expected to go into effect when the current CBA expires on Dec. 1 — will affect their offseason, it will surely color this transaction window.

The Dodgers don’t have any gaping holes to fill this winter, but they still need to fortify their roster if they hope to reclaim their spot at the top of the league.

The Dodgers have already hired former Marlins hitting coach Pedro Guerrero to fill the only opening on their coaching staff, and made their first offseason acquisition, claiming infielder Christian Cairo off waivers from the Mets on Monday.

Their most pressing needs are their bullpen and bench, areas that often draw less fanfare. But the Dodgers also have a track record of splashy offseason moves.

Here are takeaways from Gomes’ media availability Tuesday:

Dodgers engaged with Tarik Skubal’s camp

Tarik Skubal during Game 1 of the NLCS.

(Ashley Landis / AP)

As Freidman said they would, the Dodgers have remained in contact with southpaw Tarik Skubal’s camp, Gomes confirmed Tuesday. And they expect to have a meeting “at some point,” Gomes said.

Skubal is the top free agent available this offseason and is sure to garner interest from all the heavy hitters. The Mets have a meeting scheduled with him next week, according to multiple reports.

The Dodgers’ pitch started when they acquired him at the trade deadline this year. But it’s unclear just how aggressive they will be in pursuit of a reunion.

“I think a lot of it is continuing to see what this all looks like,” Gomes said. “He was awesome getting to know. He fit in great into the clubhouse. Obviously, we know what kind of pitcher he is. So for us, it’s understanding what this all looks like, as far as what does our team need? What does the contract look like? Where does he end up? I don’t know.

“We know we love the player, we love the human, and you kind of have to let things play out to understand what that looks like, and if it’s something that we’re gonna ultimately execute.”

Japanese phenom Shoki Oda on the Dodgers’ radar

Oda, 18, plans to go straight from high school baseball to the United States, foregoing a stint in Nippon Professional Baseball. He’s begun meeting with major-league teams.

“He’s super talented, really projectable, fun to watch him throw,” Gomes said. “I know our international guys have watched him closely, and you know, I’m not sure how that all shakes out exactly. But we think really highly of him.”

Asked if he’d had a visit with the Dodgers, Gomes said with a smile: “Potentially.”

Dodgers looking for Miguel Rojas replacement

Who can fill Miguel Rojas’ shoes?

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Rojas has already begun the transition into his player development role with the Dodgers, working with Dodgers prospects in the Arizona Fall League. But now the Dodgers have to fill the hole his retirement left on the roster.

New-addition Cairo adds depth to the infield group and like Rojas is a right-handed hitter.

“He has really good bat-to-ball (skills), good defensively in a bunch of different spots,” Gomes said. “Our scouts have flagged him as somebody that they really liked, and makeup was really strong.”

Veteran utility player Kiké Hernández also entered free agency. But in a similar situation last year, the Dodgers brought him back on a one-year deal.

“Kiké’s been such a huge part of what we’ve done in the past, and we’ll continue to have those conversations,” Gomes said. “But what that looks like right now, I have no idea.”

At the beginning of the season, with switch-hitting utility player Tommy Edman on the IL, the Dodgers had two young second basemen competing for the left-handed-hitting side of the platoon. Alex Freeland won the job, and Hyeseong Kim, in his second year of a three-year contract worth $12.5 million, made nearly three quarters of his plate appearances in Triple-A.

“Comet did not have the year that he was expecting offensively, but he has so many skills that fit us well,” Gomes said. “Diving in this offseason, to continue to chip away at the potential swing changes, and he worked on some stuff at the end of the year that he felt pretty good about after presenting a plan. He’ll continue to work through those things and hopefully he’ll take a step forward on the swing mechanics and get him into a really good place offensively.”

Important offseason for Josue De Paula

Josue De Paula warms up before Game 2 of the NLDS.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

De Paula not only proved that his offensive skills were major-league ready last season, but also earned a spot on the postseason roster with a mature approach in high-pressure situations.

For him to claim a regular role next year, however, he’ll have to continue to progress on defense.

“He is dead set on proving that he’s going to be a really good defender,” Gomes said. “And he has a good setup in the off season with people around him that he’s going to go out and you know really get after it. And we have full confidence that he’s going to put the work in to really continue to take those steps forward and be the complete player that we all know he can be.”

The lockout will add another wrinkle. Because he’s on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers won’t be able to communicate with him during the lockout, as he works through his offseason program.

“We’re going to make sure that we’re set up in a way over this next month to continue to communicate with guys like we we normally do,” Gomes said. “And if things shake out in a way that we can’t, we’ll make sure that those conversations on the front end are had to kind of everybody put everybody on the same page moving forward.”

This year, the Dodgers watched the World Series from home, with the Milwaukee Brewers’ World Series victory over the Tampa Bay Rays officially ushering in a fresh slate for the Dodgers to plan their 2027 championship pursuit.

“When you take the experience and the talent of our core guys, and you look at what is coming [up through the farm system], that is what gives us a high degree of confidence about being able to sustain this,” said Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, in his end-of-season news conference, “not just in 2027, but as we look out.”

As the Dodgers attempt to strengthen their roster to climb back to the top, however, they’ll have to navigate a disjointed winter transaction window.

MLB owners are expected to impose a lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1. If that happens, the offseason will grind to a halt, suspended indefinitely until the two sides sign a new agreement.

Will that expected shutdown spur early action in free agency?

Will the threat of a salary cap freeze the player market?

It’s unclear, but teams are readying themselves to jump into action whenever the market does move.

“There’ve been a number of things that we’ve done over the last couple of years that, in October, early-November planning we didn’t think was likely or that possible,” Friedman said. “An opportunity popped up, and we were at least prepared enough to act in the time to get something done — there’ve been trades, there’s been free-agent signings.

“So for us, it’s just about our internal meetings, getting as prepared as we can be. Because things are going to play out in ways and timing and things that we can’t anticipate, so be as prepared as we can be.”

Amid those unique circumstances, here’s a guide to the Dodgers’ offseason: