Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani (17) talks with Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki in the dugout prior to a baseball game against the St. Louis Cardinals, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
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Roki Sasaki didn’t get to contribute much to the Los Angeles Dodgers during his first regular season in MLB, but he’s back right on time for October. The club is activating him from the 60-day injured list ahead of tonight’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Sasaki has been one of the best pitchers on the planet over the past few years, dominating in Japan and in international competitions such as the World Baseball Classic. He signed with the Dodgers in January, putting the three best Japanese players on the same roster, along with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The dream of them all pitching in the same rotation has yet to materialize. Ohtani didn’t pitch in the beginning of the year, and by the time he resumed work on the mound, Sasaki had picked up a shoulder injury. He hasn’t pitched in MLB since May 9, and his numbers aren’t pretty. He has a 4.72 ERA and 1.49 WHIP with 24 strikeouts and 22 walks in 34 1/3 innings.
Even now that Sasaki is healthy, they still aren’t part of the same rotation. The plan is for him to work out of the bullpen. Besides, Ohtani has already made his final start of the regular season, so he isn’t technically in the rotation anymore.
The Dodgers hope that Sasaki can stabilize a relief corps that has been the primary culprit for why they’re still trying to fight off the San Diego Padres in the National League West. Their bullpen has a 4.33 ERA, which ranks 21st in MLB, and they lost their last two games on blown saves by Tanner Scott and Blake Treinen.
At 88-69, they have a 1.5 game lead in the division, but their record is far below expectations. Before the season, they were widely predicted to win more than 100 games. Even if they win out, the most they can win now is 93.
Regardless of whether they stave off the Padres and claim the division title, they’ve already cliched a playoff spot—as has San Diego. Now manager Dave Roberts has to sort through his pitching options to find the right roles for everyone in October.
The Dodgers have utilized a six-man rotation this year. Lately, that has featured Ohtani, Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Clayton Kershaw, Tyler Glasnow, and Emmet Sheehan. They’ll only need three starters in the playoffs until the Championship Series and World Series, during which they’ll need four starters if they get that far.
The most likely starters in a short series are Ohtani, Snell, and Yamamoto. Ohtani pitched yesterday and isn’t scheduled again during the regular season, which would line him up perfectly to start their first playoff game. In three outings in September, he has thrown 14 2/3 innings without conceding a run—not bad for someone hitting .282/.394/.617 with 53 home runs.
Snell is scheduled to pitch tonight. The two-time Cy Young Award winner has dealt with injuries that have limited him to 10 starts and 55 2/3 innings, but over his last two starts, he has thrown 13 innings with 23 strikeouts, four hits, and no runs allowed.
Yamamoto, who will pitch tomorrow night, has been the team’s most reliable starter all year. He has a 2.58 ERA over 29 starts and 167 2/3 innings, and he leads MLB qualified starters with 5.9 hits per nine innings.
Glasnow and Sheehan will presumably be pushed into long relief roles along with Sasaki, which will hopefully stabilize their bullpen. This puts the future Hall of Famer Kershaw in a strange position in his final postseason. He’s the logical fourth starter when the team needs one in the later playoff rounds, but he may have to work in relief to take the mound before the NLDS.