LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is set to pitch for Japan at the World Baseball Classic in March, joining two-way superstar and club teammate Shohei Ohtani on skipper Hirokazu Ibata’s roster, a source with knowledge of the matter said Thursday.
Meanwhile, fellow Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki, who was also integral to Samurai Japan’s 2023 WBC championship victory, is expected to sit out the tournament this time, another source said.
The 27-year-old Yamamoto is coming off a stellar second season in Major League Baseball in which he was named World Series MVP after anchoring the Los Angeles pitching rotation on the way to back-to-back titles.
He is expected to be a key starting pitcher for Japan in March, reprising his role from the 2023 tournament, when he was still a member of the Orix Buffaloes.
Yamamoto was a Cy Young finalist this year after going 12-8 over 30 regular-season games with a 2.49 ERA that ranked second-best in the National League.
He was the winning pitcher for three games of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays and came out of the bullpen to seal the championship in Game 7 on zero days’ rest.
Sasaki, 24, made big contributions as a closer in the postseason, having returned in September after missing more than four months of his rookie season due to right shoulder impingement. He is expected to resume his usual starter role next year.
Japan will open its WBC campaign against Taiwan at Tokyo Dome on March 6. The quarterfinals and beyond will be held in the United States, with the final at Miami’s loanDepot park on March 17.
AloJapan.com