More than any numbers, the magnitude of what Roki Sasaki achieved this 12 months can be measured in the change in how he saw himself.
Sasaki stopped considering of himself as a reclamation undertaking.
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 seen 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 wished to win. But at his introductory information convention two years in the past, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that Sasaki’s objective was to become the first pitcher from Japan to ever win a Cy Young Award.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki throws a pitch in the seventh inning of Game 3 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. CHRIS TORRES/EPA/Shutterstock
Never thoughts how practical that is.
The truth that Sasaki is comfy enough to publicly share such outsized ambitions speaks to the progress he made this 12 months.
This was the same pitcher who posted a 4.72 ERA in the eight begins he made in his injury-ravaged rookie season with the Dodgers in 2025.
This was the same pitcher who went into camp this 12 months with the modest objective of making the Dodgers’ beginning rotation and staying there.
This was the same pitcher who appeared as if he belonged in the minor leagues in the first month and a half of the common season.
By the time the Dodgers’ offseason began, Sasaki was speaking about how he wished to be half of the playoff rotation next 12 months.
“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 12 months 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.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki throws a pitch during the eighth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium. Getty Images
Skubal’s potential departure could be offset by Shohei Ohtani, who will resume being a two-way participant. The Dodgers will return their three other postseason starters – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.
Sasaki said that if he can compete for particular person league honors, he should be ready to compete for a place in the staff’s October rotation. He has spent each of the last two postseasons in the bullpen.
“In the playoffs, I think the team winning is prioritized more than anything,” Sasaki said. “I think that if I pitch well in the regular season, I should be able to throw (in the postseason). If I can’t do that, I think it would just mean I’m not good enough.”
Sasaki completed the common season with a 5-5 document and 4.49 ERA.
He was inspired by how he began 23 video games, which is the most he’d ever began in a single season in either the majors or in the Japanese league.
“The physical part,” he said, “has become better.”
In addition to pitching more, he pitched higher.
In his first six begins after the All-Star break, Sasaki registered a 2.31 ERA. He averaged shut to six innings a begin.
The run of promising begins came to an finish when he developed a blister on the center finger of his pitching hand in late August, but Sasaki felt as if he figured something out.
The Dodgers did, too.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki seems to be on during the pregame ceremony before Game 3 of the NLCS for the 2026 MLB Playoffs against the Milwaukee Brewers. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“I think Roki’s year, a ton of really positive to take away from it,” normal supervisor Brandon Gomes said. “I thought his second half was incredible.”
In that stretch, Sasaki included a tougher variation of his signature forkball. He rediscovered his fastball, which declined in velocity in 2024, his ultimate season in the Japanese league.
His common four-seamer was 97.9 mph, up from 96.1 mph last 12 months.
The improved fastball-forkball mixture also made his slider more efficient.
“My (fastball) velocity came back at the end,” Sasaki said. “Regarding that, I have to continue doing what I’ve done up to this point. I still don’t think I’m there with my breaking balls. I want to level up their quality.”
From where he stands at present, Sasaki still might not be ready to see the end line.
But the highway forward is now seen.
After almost two years of drifting with out a sense of course, he is prepared to take purposeful steps ahead.
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