Unstoppable Force: Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 2024 Campaign
To the surprise of just about everyone last season, the Dodgers landed Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the most decorated pitcher to come out of Japan in a generation. Naturally, there was some agita in other quarters about the decision.
For all the drama that current staff ace Yamamoto generated in 2024, it is important to remember three salient facts:
This roller coaster of a season was only the first season in a 12-year, $325 million deal;
Yamamoto pitched in just 90 innings in the regular season and 18⅔ IP in the postseason. To put that figure in some perspective, Adric and I were present for 153 innings of the Dodgers’ regular season; and
With the World Series title, Yamamoto is arguably the most decorated pitcher in the world, as he has won a Japan Series, a World Series, a World Baseball Classic, and an Olympic gold medal by the ripe old age of 26.
I have felt like a mad prophet about Yamamoto through the 2024 season. While I understandably had doubts about the Dodgers in the postseason, the one person I never lost faith in in 2024 was Yoshinobu Yamamoto. I can understand why some were slow to get on the Yamamoto bandwagon, when you have an arsenal like Yamamoto’s, the sky is literally the limit.
While he was still on a Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) rest schedule of pitching once a week, his season largely came down to one of three questions, from worst to best.
Was it his first time against the San Diego Padres?
Yamamoto had a knack for making lousy first impressions to the uninitiated. In limited action, a large measure of his success could be found by asking whether it was his first time facing the Padres in a given setting.
If the answer was yes, then Yamamoto was far from his best. In his regular season debut in Seoul, South Korea, and postseason debut, this hurler known for his exceptional control would lose it and become quite mortal on the mound.
March 21: 1 IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP
October 5 (NLDS Game 1): 3 IP, 5 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 HR
In fact, if you discount his disastrous Seoul Series start, his regular season ERA drops by about half a run. If you discount his middling showing in NLDS Game 1, his 2024 postseason ERA drops by more than half (1.72 vs 3.86).
