Roki Sasaki Unlikely To Be Dodgers Closer In Postseason

Roki Sasaki became the Los Angeles Dodgers’ closer during the 2025 postseason because of a severe lack of options, but it fortunately worked out in their favor by the end.

Edwin Díaz has not lived up to expectations as the closer, but Tanner Scott has been a much more reliable option this season, even though there’s been recent struggles.

Sasaki was activated from the 15-day injured list Monday and moved to a bullpen role, where he will remain heading into October.

He completed one inning on Tuesday against the San Diego Padres, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is open to using the right-hander in a variety of roles. The Dodgers are still evaluating Sasaki’s role in the postseason, but Roberts doesn’t expect it to be as the club’s closer.

“First off, excited to see Roki back,” he began. “He’s looking forward to this role. I think he can be very impactful as it was last year. I think right now, it’s more of looking at him out of the ‘pen. I’m not sure exactly what inning. I think tonight, I could envision him pitching multiples. So I can see him coming into a clean inning and pitching two innings. I’m not sure if that’s the third inning or the sixth inning or the eighth inning, but he’s ready.

“I don’t want to say he’s going to finish games or be a closer. I think last year was one of those things where it was a situation of need, as far as where we were at with performance, with health of guys, and he filled that role admirably.”

Looking ahead to the postseason, he has another opportunity to be an impact arm out of the bullpen. Sasaki was dominant as a reliever last season, allowing one earned run in 10.2 innings of work. He held opponents to a .167 batting average and posted a 1.03 WHIP.

Roki Sasaki’s successful 2026 regular season

While Sasaki got off to a very rocky start this season, it can be confidently said that 2026 was a positive step forward in his development as a starter. In 23 starts, he averaged about five innings per outing and had seven quality starts.

He showed significant growth in the second half of the campaign, giving him something to build on heading into his third season.