Originally published by DodgerBlue.com
Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished the 2025 regular season behind Paul Skenes and Cristopher Sánchez in National League Cy Young voting, in what was a true breakout year for the Japanese hurler. Although Skenes received the honor, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts lobbied for his own pitcher to win the award.
Not to take away from the Pittsburgh Pirates ace last season, but it was hard to argue against Roberts’ statement after Yamamoto’s performance in the 2025 postseason. Granted, the Cy Young Award does not take into account the playoffs.
Yamamoto has followed up his 2025 season with another excellent campaign in 2026, proving that last year was not a fluke and cementing his position among the best starters in baseball.
“He takes pride, and he’ll never say it outwardly, but he takes pride in being there for his teammates and knowing he’s the best option,” Roberts said. “I was actually talking to Gomer (Brandon Gomes) about him, he’s one of the more underappreciated pitchers in all of baseball.
Yamamoto has made 58 starts over the last two seasons. It is a stark difference from his injury-shortened rookie year, in which he only made 18 regular season starts. The immediate correction makes his last two seasons all the more impressive.
“I think for me, players that you gravitate towards and love to have and can’t have enough of them, are dependable players. Yoshinobu is very dependable,” Roberts said.
“I think he’s probably had one or two clunkers this year, but everything else outside of that has been six innings-plus. Very consistent and you know what you’re going to get. When the moments get big, he certainly rises to those occasions. It’s all about his preparedness, his focus, compete, all of that.”
Yamamoto figures to finish short of winning the NL Cy Young again in 2026, as it is seemingly Milwaukee Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski’s award to lose.
Still, the 28-year-old’s performance is nothing to sneeze at. His final regular season totals are nearly identical to last year’s, with only some slight differences.
There was a drop off in his strikeouts per nine innings and overall strikeout total, but Yamamoto’s strikeout rate has remained relatively the same. On the plus side, the right-hander reduced his walks per nine inning and walk rate this season.
This helped to raise Yamamoto’s strikeout to walk ratio despite the overall reduction in strikeouts. It is one aspect of his increased efficiency this season, to go along with completing more innings per outing and a significant reduction in WHIP.
What’s next for Yoshinobu Yamamoto
While much of Roberts’ praise holds true when looking at the overall 2026 season, Yamamoto did labor in a loss to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday night. He allowed four runs (two earned) over six innings, hurting his cause by hitting a batter and committing a throwing error.
The outing was Yamamoto’s last start of the regular season, and he’s now lined up to start in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series or NL Division Series.
The Dodgers’ magic number to secure a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the NLDS is just one.
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