The Los Angeles Dodgers executed their starting pitching rotation in 2025 perfectly.
Heavily reliant on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he’s the only starter projected to return to the ballclub that threw at least 100 innings this past season. The other two — Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May — will not be back for various reasons.
Kershaw officially retired in correspondence with the World Series triumph over the Toronto Blue Jays. May was dealt to the Boston Red Sox in July, and is now a free agent.
General manager Brandon Gomes has been making the media rounds in correspondence with the GM meetings in Las Vegas over the last week.
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Via Jeff Fletcher of The Orange County Register, Gomes admitted that it’s unknown as to how the Dodgers will operate when it comes to their collection of starting pitchers in 2026.
“I think that’s a conversation we’ll have with him as it gets deeper into the offseason, but it’ll probably look more like a normal schedule than last year, but obviously that can be fluid. And everything we’ll do is with the big picture mindset,” Gomes said.
“(A six-man rotation is) certainly on the table, but it depends how things shake out.”
The Dodgers are playing for October. As was the case this past year, the team will essentially sacrifice regular season wins in order to keep their assortment of starters healthy.
Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow have somewhat extensive injury histories. The same can be said for Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki to an extent. This quartet, along with Yamamoto and Emmet Sheehan, project to be the six-man group in 2026.
Given how the Dodgers operate coupled with the histories of the aforementioned names, there’s also the reality that the team actively accrues as much depth as possible to piece together quality outings. It’s not a surprise when IL stints occur to essentially avoid wear and tear.
Ohtani figures to ramp up his work load and pitch extensively in 2026. Gavin Stone and River Ryan are reentering the fold having sat out all of this past year with injuries. Justin Wrobleski, Landon Knack, and Ben Casparius are three other names all with starting experience.
Knowing how the team utilizes its depth, there’s a decent chance the team will continue to operate with spot-starts from bullpen members as well as guys coming up from the minor leagues.
Given Sasaki’s volatility as a starter last year, as well as the inability for Glasnow to consistently leap over the 100 innings mark, a host of the names mentioned above — and some that remain elsewhere — will likely be used throughout the year to keep the projected six-man group fresh for the stretch run.
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Photo Credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
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