On Saturday, Oct. 3, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made official what had been reported in the Japanese media a day earlier: Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 3 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. On the surface, it might seem like a curious call. During the regular season, Yamamoto led the team in wins (14), starts (28), innings pitched (185.0) and strikeouts (182), while posting a 2.53 ERA.
He was the MVP of the 2025 World Series, starting Game 6 and closing Game 7 in one of the most remarkable postseason pitching performances ever. Yet Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell will start ahead of Yamamoto against the Braves. Start with this: Yamamoto has made three career starts at Truist Park, the Braves' home field.
He's allowed one run in 16.1 innings there, good for a 0.55 ERA — the lowest in his career at any MLB venue in which he's made more than one start. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts didn't cite that stat in explaining his decision to hold Yamamoto back, or the one that perhaps motivated his decision to start left-handed pitchers (Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell, respectively) in Games 1 and 2 of the series: the Braves ranked 22nd in MLB in wOBA against left-handed pitchers, and 11th against right-handers. More news: Dodgers Shockingly Leave 2026 All-Star Starter Off of NLDS Roster "It's more about just knowing that they're all going to pitch this series," Roberts said of his top three starters.
"You can put those three or four guys in a hat and kind of make a decision, but I think that with that, I think just kind of looking out potentially, that just sets up the rotation and Yamamoto better looking forward. "But not discounting this series, because you've got to win this series first, but again, you start from the fact that they're all going to pitch -- the three are going to pitch for sure, guaranteed to pitch, and then what sets them up going forward as well." More news: Padres All-Star Starter to Miss NLDS Games Due to Personal Reasons For his part, Walt Weiss knows the secret is out. He often saw teams throw their top left-handed starters against the Braves during the regular season, knowing his go-to lineup against right-handers was a bit stronger.
Everyone lines up their lefties against us. It's happened with starters. It's happened with the opposing bullpen.
Even during the year, they'd call up lefties for the series. So we're pretty used to this." For more MLB news, visit Newsweek Sports
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