{"id":487972,"date":"2026-10-07T11:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487972\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T11:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:12:11","slug":"yoshinobu-yamamotos-playoff-dominance-impresses-tarik-skubal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/487972\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s playoff dominance impresses Tarik Skubal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Who would you rather have starting an October game for the Dodgers<\/a> than Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a>?<\/p>\n

No one, right? And you wouldn\u2019t be the only one thinking that.<\/p>\n

Tarik Skubal<\/a> thought so too.<\/p>\n

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts<\/a> told Skubal he would start the team\u2019s playoff opener, Skubal responded with a question.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal was honored with the assignment, but he also was worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Is Yoshi OK?\u2019\u201d Skubal said Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He is, as the Atlanta Braves found out the hard way. Yamamoto pitched the Dodgers to within one game of the National League Championship Series, setting a postseason high with 10 strikeouts in a 3-1 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In seven innings, Yamamoto gave up one run on four hits, all of them singles. In only one of those innings did Atlanta advance a runner beyond first base.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have a lot of respect for him and for what he means here in L.A. and what he has accomplished here,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI know we have a lot of good starting pitching, and I know there is a lot of thought that goes into it, but I just assumed he would be the Game 1 guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

You could say Yamamoto rises to the October occasion, but Mookie Betts<\/a> would not say that, if only because Yamamoto rises to the occasion on just about every occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see it any different,\u201d Betts said. \u201cI think he does it all year, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just has so many weapons. He throws a lot of strikes with a lot of pitches. He\u2019s hard to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skubal, a two-time Cy Young winner, is brilliant in October.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

In seven postseason appearances, he has a 1.97 earned-run average. He gave up five runs in one inning, and he has given up five runs in the other 44\u2154 innings. The Dodgers\u2019 grand prize from the trade deadline was hardly a reckless choice to start Game 1 of the division series.<\/p>\n

Yamamoto has a 2.14 ERA in 11 playoff appearances, the fourth-lowest of any pitcher since 1903 to make at least 10 postseason starts. He drains the life out of an opposing crowd as well as anyone in major league history, with a 1.42 ERA in six road playoff outings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a fan of this game as much as I am a player,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cSo, when I watch guys do really impressive things and do great things, I understand what it takes because I also play the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he goes out and performs like he does, it\u2019s almost like I expect it. And now, being a teammate of his, it\u2019s not surprising at all why he goes and performs like he does, because the way he prepares is as good as anybody in this game. It\u2019s just a ton of fun to be on the same side of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yamamoto admitted to feeling nervous, even if you would never sense it from watching him. That\u2019s part of the way he prepares, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the preparation and before the game, then I do get nervous,\u201d Yamamoto said through an interpreter, \u201cbut at that time, I personally think that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then the game starts, the nerves dissipate, and the opponent is methodically slayed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just has a way to just make pitches, calm his heartbeat,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Highlights from the Dodgers\u2019 3-1 win over the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the NLDS.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers have played seven postseason series with Yamamoto, and they have won them all.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll always cherish last October. In 76 regular-season starts with the Dodgers, he has one complete game. In back-to-back starts last October, he threw a complete game both times.<\/p>\n

Of the Dodgers\u2019 four victories in the World Series, Yamamoto earned three \u2014 including Game 6 as a starter<\/a> and Game 7 as a reliever<\/a>, with no day of rest in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got goosebumps watching that,\u201d Skubal said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know how he was doing it. That\u2019s what I was thinking: How is this going to work?<\/p>\n

\u201cHis stuff looked even better than it did in Game 6, which is insane to say. But it did. When I was watching on TV, I was like, \u2018Holy … he looks better today than he did yesterday, and he did pretty well the day before.\u2019 It\u2019s incredible. <\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, we\u2019re not having to do that again to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is one big reason why the Dodgers acquired Skubal. If Tyler Glasnow<\/a> wins Wednesday \u2014 and the Dodgers won in all six of Glasnow\u2019s postseason appearances last October \u2014 they are off to the NLCS.<\/p>\n

The Game 1 starter could be Skubal, followed in Game 2 by Yamamoto. That\u2019s a tall order for opposing batters and, so far, a winning order for the Dodgers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATLANTA\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Who would you rather have starting an October game for the Dodgers than Yoshinobu Yamamoto? No one, right?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[5221,426,423,190557,4468,48,52,51,47,50,49,1741,190558,21949,4122,2668,18796,18471,315,8934,429],"class_list":["post-487972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-dodgers","tag-game","tag-hard-way","tag-inning","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-lot","tag-october-occasion","tag-pitch","tag-postseason","tag-run","tag-starter","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-time","tag-victory","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=487972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}