Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto revealed his goals for the 2026 MLB season after earning the Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize, which the Japan Professional Sports Association awards to one player or team every year.
Yamamoto had a fantastic year in 2025, posting career highs across the board and bringing in a second World Series championship. Shohei Ohtani also won this award twice, in 2016 and 2018.
“I hope to surpass my best season every year, and this year I was able to experience many different things and felt a lot of personal growth,” Yamamoto said. “I want to do my best to show the fans an even more improved version of myself.”
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Yamamoto took a huge step up from his rookie year in 2024, playing the full season and improving his ERA to 2.49 from 3.00. He also surpassed 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career last season. Additionally, Yamamoto received his first All-Star selection and earned the World Series MVP for his electric performances during the Dodgers’ historic World Series win.
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Improving on his fantastic season will be difficult, but not impossible. Yamamoto has won just about everything there is to win in MLB after just two years, but is yet to add a NL Cy Young Award to his trophy cabinet.
Beating out Pittsburgh Pirates ace and current award holder Paul Skenes isn’t an easy task, but Yamamoto led the pack as the favorite for the award early in the season, and could very well make a run at taking down Skenes if he can maintain that kind of form for the entire season.
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The Dodgers will hope Yamamoto can have a similarly healthy and successful season in 2026 as they chase their third consecutive World Series championship.
Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
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