Yamamoto, 24-carat pitcher at the ideal time for Dodgers

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has taken on the challenge of shining with the Dodgers in this postseason with great personality

Let me begin this text with a revealing fact. In eight postseason starts with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Yoshinobu Yamamoto today has a 5-1 record, with a 2.47 ERA. What makes this interesting? Well, in the same period of work, ace Clayton Kershaw has a record of 1-5, with a 5.12 earned run average. That is to say, Yamamoto is made for the big stages and he reached the set-up at the most opportune moment for the Los Angeles team in its search for the two-time championship.

It is fair to mention that the Japanese pitcher’s numbers have been positive in the regular season, without being overshadowing. In contrast, in the postseason he has boasted a 24-carat arm. He comes from playing his second consecutive complete game in the postseason, the most recent, to tie the World Series 1-1 between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Californian team, which received thousands of criticisms for signing Yamamoto for 12 years and $325 million without having proven his quality in the Major Leagues, can breathe easy today, because although the Japanese player has not been an overwhelming pitcher in his first two regular seasons, he has appeared when it is most required: in the playoffs.

The Dodgers fell in love with the resume of this right-handed pitcher, who between 2021 and 2023 swept the Pacific League of the Japanese Professional League, where he won three trophies Eiji Sawamura (equivalent to the Major League Cy Young Award) and in each of those three campaigns he won the Pitching Triple Crown (leader in wins, ERA and strikeouts). The office of the current champions was not wrong, although initially the pitcher’s presentation left much to be desired.

His first performance as a major leaguer came on South Korean soil, on the Opening Day of the 2024 season that was played at the Gocheok Sky Domehouse of the Nexen Heroes of Korean baseball where the Dodgers served as administrative venues against San Diego. Yamamoto only went through one inning in which he was beaten, as Jake Cronenworth’s parents, Ha-Seong Kim, Luis Campuzano and Tyler Wade They made five runs, all clean.

In his second start of that debut campaign in the Majors, he went without a decision against the St. Louis Cardinals, with a job of five blank rolls. Finally, until his third appearance on the mound came his first victory, it was at the legendary Wrigley Field, against the Chicago Cubs, against whom he worked for five rolls, with a three-hit ball, no run, with two walks and eight strikeouts.

He finished that first season with a 7-2 record with a 3.00 ERA; However, his value appeared in the postseason, which ended with a 2-0 record in four starts, with an ERA of 3.86. His debut in the playoffs was not the best, again San Diego made him see his luck as had happened in his season debut, because in Game 1 of the Division Series they fell on him with five runs in three innings. However, he righted the course and in that same series, in Game 5, he threw five scoreless balls to claim the victory and then, in Game 2 of the World Series, in what was his best outing, he won the game with 6.1 innings of work in which he only allowed a solo home run by Juan Soto.

This 2025 began, curiously, with a victory in the same stadium where he achieved the first victory of his career in MLB, at Wrigley Field. This time he pitched five innings of one-run ball against the Cubs. Then the season was very average, without being extraordinary: 1-0 record in March in two outings; 2-2 in April in four starts; May, one of his best months, 3-1 in five appearances; June was not the best, going 1-3 in five other appearances; At the end of June he had a discreet record of 7-6 with 2.61 and between July, August and September, he had a positive record of 5-2 in 14 starts, so in seven he went without a decision.

Although the Dodgers were grateful for his 12-8 record and 2.49 ERA, his true value is once again in this postseason in which he has looked like a true star. Except for Game 3 of the Division Series against the Philadelphia Phillies, in which he took the defeat, the only one in his playoff career, after four rolls, six hits and three runs, in his two recent appearances he has looked intractable and has seen himself as an indefatigable man: two complete games, both with a single run. The first, in Game 2 against the Milwaukee Brewers, and the second in Game 2 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Today, Yamamoto has a 5-1 record with an outstanding ERA of 2.47 in 47.1 innings of work, solid numbers that corroborate that the Dodgers were not wrong in hiring him and that make the comparison with the work of star Clayton Kershaw inevitable. Historically, Kershaw’s numbers at this point in the schedule are disappointing: 13-13 with a 4.63, with no complete games.

We already mentioned it, in the same eight starts in which Yamamoto today boasts a 5-1 mark, with a 2.47 ERA, Kershaw registered the opposite 1-5 with a 5.12 earned run average allowed. Yamamoto is made for the big stage, at least, that’s what he has shown. There are pitchers called to shine in stellar moments and Yoshinobu Yamamoto has taken on the challenge with great personality in this postseason, at the right time for the Dodgers.