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This week, the Los Angeles Dodgers will head to Japan to play in MLB's Tokyo Series. Their two matchups on March 18 and 19 will be against Nippon Professional Baseball's Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.
On March 11, the Dodgers confirmed the two most obvious starters will take the mound in the series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 1 and LA's newest starter, Roki Sasaki, will start Game 2, according to MLB insider Bob Nightengale.
Both Yamamoto and Sasaki are former NPB stars and will likely be familiar faces to many of the fans in the audience at the Tokyo Dome. Yamamoto pitched seven seasons for the Orix Buffaloes before he signed with the Dodgers in 2024 and Sasaki posted four years with the Chiba Lotte Marines before his move to MLB earlier this offseason.
Yamamoto and Sasaki were the most hyped international free agents of their respective classes, and for good reason. The former is a career 1.82 ERA pitcher with 922 strikeouts over 897 innings with the Buffaloes, and Sasaki owns a 2.10 ERA with a staggering 505 strikeouts in 394.2 innings of work for the Marines. Both pitchers appeared in Japan's 2023 World Baseball Classic-winning squad.
Dodgers announce Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki as starters for upcoming Tokyo Series, Hyeseong Kim left off roster
Shohei Ohtani also represented Japan in the WBC, and the star will appear with the Dodgers in the Tokyo Series, but not as a pitcher. Ohtani is still recovering from elbow surgery to repair the UCL in his pitching arm and will take the mound for the first time in a year at some point during the 2025 season.
Not all of the news was rosy as the Dodgers also announced that former Korea Baseball Organization infielder Hyeseong Kim will not make the trip to Tokyo with the team. He'll start the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kim has struggled at the plate during LA's Cactus League games as he adjusts to MLB pitching. He's posted a .207/.303/.310 slash line with 11 strikeouts and four walks over his 15 appearances so far. Kim is a career .304/.364/.403 hitter over his eight seasons in KBO, so he'll find himself eventually, but the uptick in velocity from KBO to MLB is no joke. Hopefully, he can tag along for next year's international series, of which the Dodgers seem to be a staple.