The Los Angeles Dodgers are going with Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 5 of the NLDS.
The team announced the right-hander as the starter for their winner-take-all game against the San Diego Padres on Thursday. There had been some mystery over their selection, but Yamamoto was the most likely choice.
Yu Darvish was already announced as the Padres’ starter for Game 5. It will be two Japanese starters going toe-for-toe, the first such matchup in MLB postseason history, in a game that already features Shohei Ohtani.
Yamamoto has made three starts against the Padres so far in his MLB rookie season, and none of them has gone particularly well. He got knocked around in his MLB debut in Korea on March 21, allowing four hits and five runs in a single inning of work. He followed that with three earned runs in five innings on April 12.
In Game 1 of the NLDS, Yamamoto allowed five earned runs and five hits in three innings, which didn’t prevent the Dodgers from eking out a 7-5 win at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers proceeded to drop the next two games before blowing out the Padres 8-0 on Wednesday to force a Game 5.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Game 1 that he believed Yamamoto might have been tipping his pitches, via MLB.com:
“There are some things that I think we’re going to dig into, because I think at second base they had some things with his glove [that were] giving away some pitches,” Roberts said. “We’re going to clean that up. That’s part of baseball. So it’s on us to kind of clean that up and not give away what pitch he’s going to throw.”
Yamamoto is in his first season with the Dodgers after signing a 12-year, $325 million deal — an MLB record for a pitcher — last winter. He was among the better pitchers in MLB when healthy this season, but he missed nearly three months due to a rotator cuff strain.
It likely won’t be only Yamamoto throwing against the Padres, knowing the Dodgers. The team also has Game 2 starter Jack Flaherty waiting in the wings. He was seen doing exercises in the team’s bullpen during Game 4 and appeared to be an option to pitch in relief, so he could operate as a backup in case Yamamoto’s start Friday goes south as quickly as has happened in the past.
The team also isn’t shy about leaning on its bullpen, which pitched a shutout in Game 4 and got a full day of rest on Thursday. Few teams care as little about the conventionality of their postseason pitching plans as these Dodgers.
Whoever wins Friday at Dodger Stadium will face the New York Mets in the NLCS, with Game 1 scheduled for Sunday at a ballpark in southern California.