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LOS ANGELES — When the Dodgers scouted Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Japan, they envisioned him starting for the team in must-win postseason games. And once Los Angeles acquired him last offseason, Yamamoto was always going to be a big part of their success.
And he was early this season, showcasing the arsenal that made him one of the most coveted free agents of the winter and looking like one of the best pitchers in baseball through the first two months, with a 2.92 ERA on June 15. Then a right rotator cuff strain suffered in June seemed to halt that early success and potentially end his rookie MLB season.
Three months later — with plenty of MRIs, rehab and waiting in between — Yamamoto made his return to the Dodgers’ rotation on Sept. 10, but after the long layoff, he wasn’t quite himself. He made it through five innings only once in his final four starts of the regular season, and he even had some issues with tipping pitches.
But on Friday, with L.A.’s season hanging in the balance, the team needed Yamamoto’s best. All the chips were in the center of the table, and with a trip to the NLCS on the line in Game 5 of the NLDS, the Dodgers needed their $325 million man to step up.
And he did.
Yamamoto delivered the start of his young career in the Dodgers’ 2-0 victory over the San Diego Padres, pitching five innings with just two hits, one walk and zero earned runs and sending L.A. to the NLCS for the first time since 2021.
“Last outing, I didn’t do my job well,” Yamamoto said afterward, referring to his three innings with five runs surrendered in Game 1. “I tried to get myself ready for today’s game.”
The Dodgers’ rookie right-hander had to be great in the series finale. Not only was the pressure at a maximum in a must-win contest, but with Jack Flaherty struggling and the team having used the bullpen exhaustively in Game 4, Yamamoto was their best — and maybe only — option.
It was clear from the first batter of the game that he was ready to give his team a chance, hitting 97 mph on his very first pitch.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Robert said postgame. “And I knew he wasn’t going to run from this spot. I’m looking forward to riding him through the World Series.”
The biggest test of the game for Yamamoto was always going to be the Dodger killer, Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis was a thorn in the Dodgers’ side all series, with three homers off L.A. pitchers and a 1.759 postseason OPS going into Game 5. If the Dodgers were going to advance to the next round, Yamamoto had to find a way to get the Padres’ superstar out.
In their first-inning duel, Yamamoto started Tatis’ at-bat with a ball. Then Tatis fouled off two pitches in a row before Yamamoto got him to swing through a slider, showing that the 26-year-old righty was locked in and sending Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.
“It’s the best we’ve seen him,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said later. “I give him a lot of credit. Fastball looked like it had a lot of life. … Threw the secondary when he needed to, and we just couldn’t string anything together. I thought he rose to the occasion.”
Maybe the biggest moment in the game for Yamamoto and the Dodgers came in the third inning. The Japanese star cruised through the first eight batters he faced with just one walk allowed, but in the third, he faced some adversity. After back-to-back one-out singles by Kyle Higashioka and Luis Arraez, who was there, ready to do damage? Tatis, of course.
And after Yamamoto fell behind in the count 3-1, the game could have changed with one swing. Instead, Yamamoto executed the best pitch of the night, getting Tatis to roll over on a slider and ground into a 5-4-3 double play. Inning over.
“I was just trying to be aggressive,” Yamamoto said.
From there, he set the Padres’ hitters down in order with a crisp fourth and fifth, matching his longest start since coming off the IL on Sept. 10. In doing so, he gave the Dodgers exactly what they needed to beat a Padres team that looked like they had the edge all series long.
“The team gave this kid that much money, not because … this is not the draft. It’s not like he projects that he’s going to be great — he is great,” said Kiké Hernández, who hit what turned out to be the game-winning homer in the second inning. “And what he did tonight, that’s who he is.
“And we’re not surprised whatsoever.”
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The Dodgers are viewed as baseball’s elite, with their massive payroll and their superstar talent. But make no mistake: What they accomplished in this NLDS was no small feat. San Diego seemed to have every advantage after Game 3, from both a physical and a mental standpoint.
But that’s where a team that has gotten used to winning and has made reaching the postseason a regular occurrence is so dangerous. Many teams would have all but given up after Game 3, likely surrendering the series in Game 4 in a hostile environment on the road.
“We won the [NL] West, yes. But that team, they’re stacked, bro,” Hernández said of the Padres. “They’re stacked — not just the rotation, but the lineup and the bullpen and defensively and the way they run the bases and the way they play the game. It’s a hard team to beat in October.”
Yet there’s no situation or scenario these Dodgers haven’t seen, and that showed as they were able to compartmentalize and play a one-game series in Game 4 and again in Game 5. And behind a rock-solid bullpen that held San Diego scoreless for the final 24 innings of the series, they defeated the best opponent remaining in the postseason field.
“We know that we have the ball club that can come from behind,” said Teoscar Hernández, who added the Dodgers’ second solo homer in the seventh. “Obviously, we didn’t have the results that we wanted in those two games that we lost, but we keep our minds in the same spot that we have at the beginning of the series.”
This series had a bit of everything — drama, star power, energy, atmosphere — and there’s no denying that it was the most intense series of this postseason so far. So now, after coming back from a 2-1 deficit, the Dodgers have some momentum of their own as they prepare to face the red-hot Mets on Sunday in Game 1 of the NLCS.
“It rivals 2004 when we beat the Yankees, when I was a player with the Red Sox,” manager Dave Roberts said after his team’s victory. “It rivals beating the Braves in 2020 to get to the World Series. … You’re talking about one of the best teams in baseball over there. … And it was a dog fight, and I’ve got nothing but respect for the guys over there.
“But to kind of win this series how we did, to kind of fall behind — and those guys coming into the postseason had a lot of momentum — speaks to the character of our guys. This is right up there.”