It was just 15 months ago that the Los Angeles Dodgers crashed out of the NLDS at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Swept by a division rival that had won 16 fewer games than the Dodgers in the regular season, it was another maddening early exit from October for a franchise that had become all too familiar with such a feeling. Despite repeatedly assembling rosters seemingly fit for a championship run, Los Angeles kept coming up short.
Although the calendar would suggest otherwise, that abrupt, embarrassing elimination against Arizona now feels like a distant memory. Since that NLDS loss, which president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman deemed "an organizational failure," the Dodgers have achieved an extraordinary amount of organizational success. Their latest triumph: the signing of 23-year-old Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki, a generationally gifted pitcher whose unique free agency became one of the biggest hot stove storylines MLB has seen in quite some time.
Many organizations coveted Sasaki, whose status as an international amateur made him available for a fraction of what he would’ve been worth had he waited until he turned 25 and come to MLB as a full-fledged free agent. This was not a player for whom the Dodgers could simply flex their financial muscles and outbid the competition; this was a matter of recruiting and selling a vision of a place where a young pitcher can maximize his big-league dreams. Ultimately — thanks in large part to the past year, in which the franchise supercharged its roster to new heights, won the World Series and cemented its reputation as a developmental powerhouse — the Dodgers offer a compelling pitch by those standards as well. And so, sure enough, Sasaki chose Los Angeles as the home for the first chapter of his highly anticipated major-league career.
Sasaki's addition only amplifies what was already a laughably stacked projected rotation for the Dodgers, forming one of the more astonishing quintets of starting pitching talent the game has ever seen. There's Sasaki, a generationally gifted 23-year-old who can still get so much better. Blake Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who signed a $182 million contract earlier this offseason. Tyler Glasnow, a gigantic flamethrower who has the lowest batting average against of any MLB starting pitcher over the past five seasons. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the 26-year-old right-hander who a year ago received the largest free-agent contract ever awarded to a pitcher. And, of course, Shohei Ohtani, who is expected to resume his legendary two-way exploits this year after not pitching in 2024 while rehabbing from elbow surgery. It's a jaw-dropping array of arms. And perhaps most remarkably, none of them was in the organization 14 months ago.
Yet for as eye-popping as the list is on paper, this is not a rotation without questions. It’s a group whose collective supersonic talent is somehow nearly matched by the uncertainty regarding their durability. Sasaki dealt with oblique and shoulder injuries during his final season in Japan. Snell has battled a groin injury that required multiple IL stints. Yamamoto missed nearly two months last year due to a triceps injury, and Glasnow finished the year on the IL due to elbow trouble. Meanwhile, Ohtani didn’t throw a single competitive pitch.
When on the mound, these pitchers have predominantly excelled, demonstrating their all-world skills for significant stretches. Their pure ability is flatly undeniable. Availability, however, has been a different matter, and how the Dodgers opt to manage each pitcher's workload will be fascinating to monitor as this super-rotation takes shape in the coming months. A six-man rotation has been discussed as a distinct possibility, and Ohtani is not expected to rejoin the rotation at the start of the season, which will delay any initial visions of seeing these five special arms rolled out by the Dodgers in five consecutive games. Simply put, a lot will need to go right for these pitching stars to align as cleanly as we'd like.
But as we transition our curiosity surrounding this celebrated 23-year-old pitcher from "Which team will Sasaki sign with?" to "What can we expect from Sasaki as a rookie in 2025?", his choice to join the Dodgers somewhat clouds our projection in the short term. Had Sasaki signed with San Diego or Toronto, the two other reported finalists to land the pitcher, the pathway to a rotation spot would've been far clearer. Their depth charts aren't particularly crowded, and it's possible Sasaki would've made their Opening Day rotations regardless of how he performed in spring training.
With the Dodgers, though, it might not be as straightforward. For as gifted as Sasaki is, he is far from a finished product — and not nearly as polished as Yamamoto was when he made the jump from NPB a year ago. And unlike his highly compensated peers, whose rotation spots are set assuming they are healthy, the Dodgers could very realistically slow-play Sasaki’s transition to the major-league level. Because he is considered an international amateur, Sasaki is signing only a minor-league contract — one that affords the Dodgers the ability to option him to the minors and keeps him under team control for six seasons. That roster flexibility and long-term control likely create a level of patience that you wouldn’t traditionally associate with a high-end free-agent acquisition. There’s no need to speed-run Sasaki’s development if more refinement appears necessary.
Granted, it’s possible that Sasaki shows up at Camelback Ranch and dominates to the point that the decision about his immediate role is obvious, but there could be some bumps in the road. Perhaps more relevantly, it’s not like Sasaki won’t have any competition. An abundance of other rotation-caliber options remains on the roster. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May are returning from injury, and both had impressive track records as big-league starters before getting hurt. Another wave of less experienced arms, including Bobby Miller, Ben Casparius and Landon Knack, will also be in camp hungry to prove their worth. And while he won’t be ready for spring training, the Dodgers are still expected to re-sign franchise icon Clayton Kershaw, who could be ready to contribute at some point next summer.
The point is: The Dodgers will have options. If Sasaki delivers immediately on the sensational hype attached to his arrival, that’s great news for L.A. and the broader MLB audience that is eager to watch him pitch on the big-league stage as early and often as possible. But if he doesn’t, the Dodgers will be just fine. Sasaki’s fit with this superteam affords both player and team the breathing room to let him develop at whatever pace is required.
While Sasaki’s exact role and the extent of his immediate impact remain to be seen, what is clear is that with him joining Ohtani and Yamamoto, the Dodgers have assembled a triumvirate of Japanese star power never before seen on a big-league roster.
Perhaps fittingly, it was 30 years ago that Hideo Nomo made his major-league debut with the Dodgers, ushering in a new era of Japanese stars stateside after decades without any crossover between NPB and MLB. Now, three of the most talented players Japan has ever produced have coalesced on a Dodgers team already teeming with domestic superstars. The organization will soon descend upon Arizona, where a media frenzy awaits their earliest training sessions and Cactus League contests. A month later, the Dodgers' title defense will commence — and where better for the journey to begin than in Tokyo.
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