Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates with his Dodger teammates after defeating the Blue Jays 5-4 in the 2025 World Series finale.Patrick Smith/Getty Images
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was declared unfit to pitch after his win against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the World Series. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ruled out the possibility of his right-handed pitcher making another appearance on the mound so soon after throwing six innings and helping the Dodgers force Game 7.
Everyone on the roster was available to pitch Saturday’s finale, Roberts said, but not Yamamoto. No way.
The calculus behind that decision changed when Game 7 approached extra innings at Rogers Centre. Yamamoto was indeed called on to bail out the Dodgers in their dramatic come-from-behind extra-innings win.
Yamamoto pitched 2 2/3 innings and allowed only one hit before inducing a ground ball with runners on the corners that resulted in a game-winning, season-ending – and World Series-clinching – double play.
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“There are certain players that want those moments,” Roberts said after his team’s second consecutive World Series victory. “Yoshi is a guy that I just completely implicitly trust, and he’s made me a pretty dang good manager.”
Yamamoto’s performances across his three appearances in this World Series (he also started in Game 2) will surely go down as one of the greatest runs by a pitcher of all time.
He was named MVP of the World Series for his efforts.
Yamamoto on the mound during the ninth inning of Game 7. He was named MVP of the series.Patrick Smith/Getty Images
“He’s a fighter,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith told broadcasters after the Dodgers’ win. “He’s one of the best pitchers on the planet, and he showed it.”
On Saturday, Yamamoto was brought in during the bottom of the ninth inning to replace Blake Snell, another Dodgers starter who was making a relief appearance. He inherited two runners, and then beaned Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, the first batter he faced.
That made it a bases-loaded, one-out situation, and a walk-off Blue Jays win a very real possibility. But Yamamoto got Daulton Varsho to hit a grounder, which forced an out at home, and then Ernie Clement to fly out to center field. A crisis was averted, and the game headed to extra innings.
In the 10th inning he retired the Blue Jays in order. Then, in the 11th, after a leadoff double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. put the tying run on base, Isiah Kiner-Falefa moved Guererro to third with a sacrifice bunt. Addison Barger walked, and with the winning run on first base, Yamamoto escaped the jam and won L.A. the World Series.
Yamamoto went 3-0 and allowed two earned runs over 17 2/3 innings during the series.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Yamamoto came into the World Series having burned through opposing bats in the National League Championship Series. He threw a complete game in Game 3 in the NLCS and then arrived in Toronto and delivered a repeat performance in Game 2 of the World Series. No pitcher had thrown consecutive postseason complete games since Curt Schilling did it in 2001.
Between Game 6 and Game 7, he threw 130 pitches on zero rest.
Normally, a starting pitcher rests for four days before throwing in a game again.
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Yamamoto said after Saturday’s game that he had felt spent from his appearance the night before, and wasn’t sure if he’d be able to go again Saturday when he got up in the bullpen.
“When I warmed up in the bullpen before I went in, I wasn’t sure if I could pitch,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter. “But as I warmed up, I started thinking, ‘I can go.’”
Roberts said he checked on Yamamoto after his first inning of work to make sure he could go back out.
“He said, ‘daijoubu.’ It means I’m okay [in Japanese]. And so for me, I just trusted him and he came up big again,” Roberts said.
For the series, he was 3-0 and allowed two earned runs over 17 2/3 innings with 15 strikeouts.
Yamamoto, 27, is in his second major-league season, having joined the Dodgers after seven seasons playing professionally in Japan.
The Dodgers have three key players in their lineup from Japan. Aside from Yamamoto, they have all-world talent Shohei Ohtani (who will surely be named the National League MVP when that award is handed out) and closer Roki Sasaki.