by Cary Osborne
There was a confident thought within the Dodger baseball operations department, particularly from those who had seen Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch in Japan, that he was going to peak late in the 2025 season.
The fitness, the will, the skill — it all lined up for the right-hander to consistently work deep into games, hold his stuff and velocity.
Yamamoto began the ascent with his last start in August. He was an out away from a no-hitter in his first start in September. And he just kept going, through the regular season and through the postseason.
There’s nothing like the stress of a World Series game in a do-or-die game on the road against a lineup like the Toronto Blue Jays to challenge one’s endurance.
It wasn’t a complete game, but it was six needed innings from Yamamoto where he allowed one run, paving the way for the Dodgers to beat the Blue Jays 3–1 in Game 6 at Rogers Centre in Toronto on Friday.
We have a Game 7, and Yamamoto has two victories in the 2025 World Series.
“Every game I go out and pitch I always feel that I don’t want to lose,” Yamamoto said. “We can’t afford to lose.”
With the weight of expectations and pressure on Yamamoto’s shoulders with the Dodgers down 3–2 in the series, the ace shrugged it off.
But on paper, things were dicey in the sixth inning. Two, two outs, potential go-ahead run in the batter’s box in the name of Daulton Varsho.
Yamamoto threw his 96th pitch of the game, his 33rd splitter. Varsho swung and missed.
That was it for the October hero.
https://medium.com/media/e67b216e18696f7a237dba49eff8dbfe/href
But to complete that hero title, the Dodgers had to hold on to win the game. They did — in incredible fashion.
Converted reliever Roki Sasaki left with runners on second and third in the ninth inning after 33 pitches. Starter Tyler Glasnow made three pitches and earned three outs, including the last two on a double play hit by Andrés Giménez.
Giménez flew out to Kiké Hernández in left field, who sprinted in to catch the ball in shallow left-center field. Hernández threw a one-hopper to Miguel Rojas at second base, who scooped the throw to get the force out of Addison Barger at second base.
The Dodgers’ three-run third inning — an RBI double by Will Smith and a two-run single from Mookie Betts — held.
Yamamoto allowed an RBI single to George Springer in the third inning. He allowed five hits, one walk and struck out six.
He said he felt he could go one more inning if needed.
“I thought Yamamoto was very good,” said manager Dave Roberts. “I just felt that Vladdy (Guerrero Jr.) at-bat, the Bichette at-bat, certainly gets out of that sixth inning, but I just felt that I wanted to give (Justin Wrobleski) a clean inning, and I just didn’t feel great about somebody potentially cleaning up (a potential) mess in the seventh. And I felt Yamamoto did his job for the night, in my opinion.”
This comes after Yamamoto’s complete game victory in Game 2 of the World Series. He warmed up in the bullpen in the 18th inning of Game 3 and would have come in if there were a 19th inning.
Yamamoto allowed two runs (both earned), nine hits, one walk and struck out 14 batters in 15 World Series innings (two starts) — a 1.20 ERA and 0.67 WHIP.
Yamamoto allowed eight runs (six earned runs), 26 hits, five walks and struck out 32 batters in 34 2/3 postseason innings (five starts) — a 1.56 ERA and 0.89 WHIP.
The 1.56 ERA is the third-best by a Dodger starter in a postseason with at least five starts behind Burt Hooton’s 0.82 in 1981 and Orel Hershiser’s 1.05 in 1988.
Since his final start in August, Yamamoto allowed 11 runs (nine earned runs), 37 hits, 16 walks and struck out 76 batters in 68 2/3 innings (10 starts) — a 1.18 ERA and 0.77 WHIP.
2025 World Series: Yamamoto finishes off a heroic World Series performance was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.