Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw the final pitch of the 2025 baseball season, and it’s no surprise that he’ll throw the first pitch of the 2026 season for the Dodgers as well. Manager Dave Roberts on Monday made official that the right-hander will start on opening day against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, March 26.
Yamamoto was unquestionably the Dodgers’ ace last season, the only starting pitcher to remain active for the entire season. He finished third in National League Cy Young voting after posting a 2.49 ERA and 2.74 xERA in 30 starts, with 201 strikeouts and 59 walks in 173 2/3 innings. But it was his work in the postseason that pushed his season into legendary status.
Advertisement
In six postseason games, Yamamoto was 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA and 33 strikeouts against only six walks in 37 1/3 innings. He went the distance in Games 2 in both the National League Championship Series and World Series, the first major league pitcher with consecutive postseason complete games in 24 years. Yamamoto followed that up with six strong innings to win Game 6 of the Fall Classic in Toronto, then got the final eight outs of Game 7 the next day to close out the Dodgers’ second straight championship. That earned Yamamoto World Series MVP honors.
Yamamoto will be the second Dodgers pitcher to record the final out of the World Series then start on opening day the following year, joining Sandy Koufax in 1963-64.
Last season Yamamoto also started and won the Dodgers’ first game of the season, in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs. He’ll be the first Dodgers pitcher to start consecutive opening days since Clayton Kershaw from 2011-18.
The Dodgers’ opener against the Diamondbacks is a 5:30 p.m. start, and will be televised exclusively by NBC, with streaming on Peacock.
Read the full article here
