Yoshinobu Yamamoto's warmup interrupted by clydesdales at Dodgers spring training

If you thought striking out seven batters in five innings was hard, imagine doing it after dodging a stampede of horses.

OK, that's not exactly what happened to Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday; but the Budweiser Clydesdales interrupting his warmup made for a fun anecdote ahead of his final start of 2025 spring training.

The right-hander was warming up on one of the backfields at Camelback Ranch prior to Monday's Cactus League game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but a video posted to social media showed him pausing and stepping aside as a beer wagon pulled by a team on eight clydesdales casually passed him on the warning track.

Why the iconic horses were at spring training, much less on the field, remains unknown, unless the the other 29 MLB teams chipped in to hire them in a last-ditch effort to stop the Dodgers. Or perhaps the Dodgers signed them to patrol the outfield – although clydesdales typically don't live beyond their late teens to early twenties, so the Dodgers might not be able to defer as much salary as they'd like.

Either way, Yamamoto didn't appear any worse for the wear after the interruption. The right-hander struck out seven over five innings and gave up one run on four hits in a 6-2 Dodgers win over the Diamondbacks.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto named Dodgers' Game 1 starter for Tokyo Series vs. Cubs

Yamamoto's start on Monday kept him in line to be the Dodgers' Game 1 starter in the Tokyo Series next week against the Chicago Cubs. Manager Dave Roberts confirmed as much on Tuesday, adding that the Dodgers would start Roki Sasaki on the mound in Game 2.

Yamamoto hasn't pitched in Japan since 2023, when he played for the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball. He was posted by the Buffaloes in November of that year, and the Dodgers signed him to a 12-year, $325 million contract the following month. In his MLB debut campaign with Los Angeles last season, Yamamoto pitched to a 7-2 record with a 3.00 ERA across 90 innings of work.

At just 26 years old, Yamamoto added a World Series ring to a trophy case that already contained an Olympic gold medal and a World Baseball Classic title. But the opportunity to open his second MLB season on the mound in his home country is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that even wild horses couldn't drag him away from.

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