NEW YORK, NY — Before Saturday night’s masterpiece by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 of the 2025 World Series, the last time the 27-year-old right-hander took to the mound was in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.
In that October 14th postseason outing against the Brewers in Milwaukee, Yamamoto pitched a complete game with just one earned run allowed on three hits (one for a HR) and a walk.
Most, if not all out there, did not believe he could repeat or come close to such a dominant performance his next time out.
But Yamamoto did, nearly finishing with an identical pitching line from NLCS Game 2 and most importantly in both, coming out of each with a win.
From one postseason masterpiece to another.
The only key difference was that he surrendered four hits with no walks and had eight strikeouts Saturday evening against the Blue Jays, compared to three hits, a walk and seven Ks vs. the Brewers earlier last week.
Game 2 of the NLCS vs. Brewers, giving LA a 2-0 NLCS lead:
9.0 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, seven strikeouts—111 pitches, 81 for strikes
Game 2 of the World Series vs. Blue Jays, tying up the WS at 1-1:
9.0 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 8 strikeouts—105 pitches, 73 for strikes
“To be honest, I was not thinking I could complete the game because my pitch count racked up kind of quickly,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter following LA’s 5-1 win in Game 2 of the World Series. “But I’m very happy and proud of the fact that I was able to make a big contribution and give a chance for the team to win.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described Yamamoto’s masterpiece and his demeanor as “outstanding, uber competitive, and special” then went on to say, “he was just locked in tonight. It was one of those things he said before the series, losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight.”
Case at hand here, and to simply put it, Yamamoto’s superb execution on the bump while combining his last two starts are performances simply unheard of.
And not to mention, his MLB rookie campaign came just a year ago, and in similar fashion, ended with the Japanese flamethrower pitching in the Fall Classic.
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