Dodgers pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report for spring training on Feb. 12. As we count down the days until camp begins, we are going through the various position groups to give a breakdown of where the roster stands. Today, we look at the starting pitchers. Previously, the outfielders, catchers and infielders.
2025 RECAP
For the second consecutive winter, the Dodgers spent big to augment their starting rotation, signing Blake Snell as a free agent and winning the courtship of Roki Sasaki. With Shohei Ohtani returning to two-way status in 2025, that gave them the best and deepest starting rotation in baseball – on paper. Snell and Tyler Glasnow spent months on the injured list during the season. Sasaki was not ready for MLB competition and also spent months on the IL. Out of caution, Ohtani was limited to 47 innings during the regular season. The Dodgers relied on Dustin May (third on the team in innings pitched even though he was traded away in July), Clayton Kershaw (in his final season) and others like Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski to get through the season. But they had Snell, Glasnow, Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto at full strength for the postseason and that group – particularly World Series MVP Yamamoto – carried the pitching load on the way to their second straight championship.
HOW IT LOOKS RIGHT NOW
Once again, the Dodgers seem to be entering the season with the best and deepest rotation in baseball. Ohtani is expected to be a full member of the rotation from the start of the season in 2026 – though a once-a-week pitching schedule is likely. Sasaki returns to the rotation after spending September and October as a reliever. Theoretically, he will be pitching with a fully healthy shoulder and the revamped delivery that restored his high-90s fastball as a reliever. Those two plus Snell, Glasnow and Yamamoto will be supplemented by young pitchers like Sheehan and Wrobleski with Gavin Stone and River Ryan expected back after missing 2025 while recovering from surgeries. That should provide them the depth to follow last year’s blueprint – extended stays on the IL for their front-line starters in order to have them at full strength in October.
THE NEXT LAYER
Sheehan returned from Tommy John surgery and posted a 2.82 ERA last season. He figures to have the inside track to filling out the final spot in an expected six-man 2026 rotation. Wrobleski and Ben Casparius have been better in bullpen roles but could also find their way back to starting if needed. Stone and Ryan are certain to get starts in 2026 and Kyle Hurt (who returned from his Tommy John surgery late in the 2025 season) is likely to join them. Down on the farm, the Dodgers have high hopes for prospects like Jackson Ferris, Adam Serwinowski and Zach Root, though none will be ready for the big leagues in 2026.
MOVES THEY COULD MAKE
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has said this each of the past two years. “Our goal is to do everything we can to put ourselves in position to not be on the ‘buy’ side in July. In fact, if we can have enough depth where we could even trade some, that would be ideal,” he said again in January. That was true in 2025, when they moved May to the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline and got two prospects in return (James Tibbs III and Zach Ehrhard). But one big move looms over everything – two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. If the Detroit Tigers put Skubal on the market at any point, the Dodgers will be at the front of the line looking to acquire him. They have the prospect capital to make a deal happen and the financial resources to give him the massive contract extension his agent, Scott Boras, will be seeking if Skubal is going to forgo free agency next winter.