Roki Sasakis next Dodgers goal says everything about his transformation
More than any numbers, the magnitude of what Roki Sasaki achieved this year can be measured in the change in how he saw himself.Sasaki stopped thinking of himself as a reclamation project.Based on what he said after the Dodgers were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, the 24-year-old sounded as if he viewed himself as a future Cy Young Award candidate.“My goal is to put up good numbers as a starter in the regular season and win individual titles,” he said in Japanese.Sasaki didn’t specify which titles he wanted to win.But at his introductory news conference two years ago, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that Sasaki’s goal was to become the first pitcher from Japan to ever win a Cy Young Award.Never mind how realistic that is.The fact that Sasaki is comfortable enough to publicly share such oversized ambitions speaks to the progress he made this year.This was the same pitcher who posted a 4.72 ERA in the eight starts he made in his injury-ravaged rookie season with the Dodgers in 2025.This was the same pitcher who went into camp this year with the modest goal of making the Dodgers’ starting rotation and staying there.This was the same pitcher who looked as if he belonged in the minor leagues in the first month and a half of the regular season.By the time the Dodgers’ offseason started, Sasaki was talking about how he wanted to be part of the playoff rotation next year. “To start in the regular season and continue being a starter in the postseason, I think I have to give a performance worthy of that,” he said.
“I know what I did this year wasn’t enough.“There are a lot of good pitchers on the team.”That will be the case again next season, regardless of whether the Dodgers re-sign Tarik Skubal.Skubal’s potential departure could be offset by Shohei Ohtani, who will resume being a two-way player.
The Dodgers will return their three other postseason starters – Yoshinobu...