Oct 25, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) and catcher Will Smith (16) celebrate after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in game two of the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images

Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto May Have 'Changed the Future of Baseball' Says Insider

Originally posted on Los Angeles Dodgers on SI
By Patrick Warren | Last updated Oct 26, 2025 7:00 PM ET

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Game 2 performance against the Toronto Blue Jays was so impressive that he wowed even the likes of three-time Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw.

Yamamoto tossed nine full innings, allowing just four hits and one run in his second consecutive complete game this postseason. Yamamoto's back-to-back postseason complete games mark the first time since Curt Schilling did so in 2001. Kershaw thinks, because of emerging talents like Yamamoto, it might be less than 24 years until baseball sees its next set of postseason complete games.

“I don’t think anybody could have predicted that,” Kershaw told USA Today's Bob Nightengale after the game. “But you know, maybe it’s a sign of where baseball should, and will get back to. I think it’s always fun to have great starting pitching matchups, and to see him go deep into games, maybe this gives some people some ideas for the future, hopefully.”

Nightengale went as far to say the right-hander "just brought back a golden age of pitching."

Yamamoto had a rough start to his historic day, allowing back-to-back hits against the first two batters he faced. However, he ended the day with a laundry list of historic accomplishments, including becoming just the fourth pitcher to retire the last 20 or more batters of a postseason game.

After his first inning, however, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't think Yamamoto would have the ability to go more than six innings Saturday night. By the end of the night, Yamamoto earned a list of superlatives from his manager.

"Outstanding, uber competitive, special," Roberts told reporters. "Yeah, 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."

Yamamoto is in just his second season in Major League Baseball, already making his second appearance in the World Series. However, before making his way to the major leagues, Yamamoto played seven years in the pros in Japan and made an appearance in Japan's World Baseball Classic run in 2023.

"He's pitched in huge ball games in Japan. He's pitched in the WBC. Players that have the weight of a country on their shoulders, that's pressure," Roberts said. "So I just feel that part of his DNA is to just perform at a high level in big spots and control his heartbeat and just continue to make pitches. So I mean, he could have went another 30, 40 pitches tonight."