ATLANTA – Yoshinobu Yamamoto has won elimination games for the Dodgers.
He’s closed out a World Series.
But he’s never had to do this.
He’s never had to outpitch a bonafide ace in a game of this magnitude.
Pitching opposite Yamamoto for the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night at Truist Park will be Chris Sale, the former Cy Young Award winner.
“He’s the ultimate pitcher,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.
The stakes are immense.
The team that wins this game will take control of the best-of-five National League Division Series, which is tied at one game apiece.
“It’s an important game that will determine the flow of the series,” Yamamoto said, “so I’ll do my best to win.”
The pitching matchup will be a rematch of a regular-season showdown – one that Yamamoto lost.
In that Aug. 27 game in Atlanta, Yamamoto limited the Braves to a run over 6 ⅓ innings.
One problem: Sale pitched a complete-game shutout.
The Braves won, 1-0.
“I was really upset that I lost, of course,” Yamamoto said. “But tomorrow will be a new game and I’ll focus on tomorrow.”
Yamamoto was considerably more successful on the road than at home this season, as he was 6-6 with a 3.13 earned-run average at Dodger Stadium and 8-3 with a 1.77 ERA everywhere else.
He has pitched especially well over the years at Truist Park, where he’s made all three of his career starts against the Braves. In his three starts in Atlanta, Yamamoto has a 0.55 ERA and an opponent’s batting average of just .158.
“It’s always a festive atmosphere and the fans are very passionate,” Yamamoto said. “I really like playing here.”
Not as if Yamamoto would be shaken by the stage.
His breakthrough game in the major leagues was pitched in October. Following a difficult first season with the Dodgers in 2024 in which he missed three months with a shoulder problem, Yamamoto was tasked with starting against the San Diego Padres in Game 5 of their best-of-five NLDS.
Earlier in that series, Yamamoto had given up five runs in only three innings. With that in mind, the Dodgers planned for a bullpen game in Game 5, counting on Yamamoto to pitch the first three innings as a glorified opener.
Yamamoto ended up giving them five.
Yamamoto said the confidence he gained in that game carried into the next season.
A solid regular season last year in which he registered a 2.49 ERA in 30 starts turned out to be a prelude for a historic postseason.
He pitched consecutive complete games, the first against the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Championship Series and the second against the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series.
With the Dodgers trailing the World Series by a three-games-to-two margin, Yamamoto won his Game 6 start to force a Game 7. The final game was played only a day after Yamamoto’s six-inning start, but the 5-foot-10 right-hander nonetheless emerged from the bullpen to pitch the final 2 ⅔ innings of a Dodgers’ victory.
Watching from a distance, Tarik Skubal was awestruck by Yamamoto’s performance.
“I’ve got the most respect for everything he’s done in the game,” Skubal said of Yamamoto. “Last year was unbelievable.”
Which was why Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his starter shouldn’t be discounted on Tuesday, regardless of whom the opponent is sending to the mound.
“There should be a lot of talk about Chris Sale,” Roberts said, “but our guy has been pretty dang good and has been a very good pitcher in the postseason.”
Yamamoto prepared for the start by throwing around 70 pitches in a simulated game last week. In that workout, he pitched to Ohtani. The last time they faced each other was in the Japanese league 2017, when Yamamoto was a rookie for the Orix Buffaloes and Ohtani was in his final season with the Nippon-Ham Fighters.
Following the simulated game last week, Yamamoto said, “I received a lot of advice from Ohtani-san – about hitter’s eye levels and thinking.”
Yamamoto said he was ready to take on a similar workload as he did last October.
Asked if he would pitch in relief or on short rest again, he replied, “Of course, I’m preparing with the idea of doing everything I can.”
To do that, he will have to get by Sale first.
