In just a few days, the Los Angeles Dodgers will play their first regular-season game of the 2025 MLB season, taking on the Chicago Cubs in the 2025 Tokyo Series.
Outside of the festivities, this series will include many things to watch. One is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers’ second-year Major League star pitcher, who will open the season as the starting pitcher.
There was a lot of hype about Yamamoto entering the Major Leagues last season. Yamamoto followed that hype with a stellar rookie season for a World Series-winning team. He accounted for an ERA of 3.00, allowing 78 hits, 32 runs, and 22 walks while delivering 105 strikeouts in 18 games.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the second inning at Camelback Ranch-Glendale.
Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
He now enters the second year of his career more confidently. On Saturday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts discussed confidence in a press conference.
“I think the biggest thing is confidence, which you have to go through, to experience to gain more confidence and how that manifests is he trusts his fastball in the strike zone. He doesn’t feel he has to be too fine with it, which makes everything else better.”
“I think Yoshinobu has grown up considerably in one year, I really do. I think he is going to have a tremendous season and just speaks to his character in the sense of after that debacle, that rough start to bounce back like he did speaks to compete and his character.”
Yamamoto will be the Dodgers’ trusted starting pitcher when they open the two-game series on Tuesday.
