Divisive Dodgers insider just hit fans with his worst Shohei Ohtani take yet

Leave it to the California Post — the newest arm of the New York Post, for those unfamiliar — to turn the 2026 Los Angeles Dodgers into a catastrophe. Yes, the same team playing for their third-straight World Series also offers plenty of drama, evidently! That, apparently, includes two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who could win his first NL Cy Young award this season.

The Dodgers have the best record in baseball and unsurprisingly came in at No. 1 in FanSided's latest MLB Power Rankings. They have an 11.5-game lead in the National League West heading into the second half.

Again, there isn't much to complain about. Don't tell that to Post columnist Dylan Hernandez, though, who claimed Ohtani's decision to skip the All-Star Game and put his health first brings his priorities into question.

Is Shohei Ohtani putting the Dodgers goals in front of his own?

I can't believe I have to answer this question. Yes, of course, the Dodgers best player — the one who has led them to two straight World Series titles — cares more about winning in the postseason than he does his own accolades. Believe it or not, that hasn't cost him a thing, as Ohtani has won two straight MVP awards since signing a $700 million contract with the Dodgers in the winter of 2024.

The easiest rebuttal to Hernandez's take is that these things don't have to be mutually exclusive. If Ohtani wins another MVP or his first Cy Young, odds are he's put the Dodgers in a good position to succeed and make another World Series run. If he fails to reach those accolades, it also doesn't mean the Dodgers have taken a step back in some form.

To the Dodgers credit, they've also helped Ohtani by employing a six-man rotation and giving him regularly-scheduled days off for the first time in his career. Again, Ohtani's never been considered a selfish player, even dating back to his days on the Los Angeles Angels, as Hernandez brings up in his own argument. In that sense, what are we even discussing here? Ohtani has always put the team in front of his own goals, sometimes to the point of injury. Next question.

Hernandez in particular has run out of ways to discuss this team in a negative fashion. The Dodgers do everything right, whether it be developing talent, signing top-tier free agents like Ohtani, or wheeling and dealing at the trade deadline. They will likely continue to do so, as they've been connected to Tarik Skubal in the lead-up to the 2026 deadline.

Whether it be calling out Ohtani prematurely in relation to Ippei Mizuhara's gambling scandal, walking back a World Series prediction that turned out to be correct in 2024, or even criticizing the Dodgers for 'sleepwalking' into the All-Star Break with a 10-plus game division lead, Hernandez has made a career of exaggerating. I do not envy him in that department.

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