Los Angeles Dodgers' Dave Roberts Confirms Yoshinobu Yamamoto Innings Count
· Yahoo Sports
The World Baseball Classic is well underway, and the last tournament winners, Team Samurai Japan, are looking to repeat as champions of the world.
In 2023, Team Samurai Japan defeated Team USA 3-2, which ended in an epic showdown between former teammates Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout.
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Ohtani struck out Trout in the bottom of the ninth on a 3-2 slider.
Team Samurai Japan enters this year's tournament with a record of eight players on a current MLB roster.
Of the eight players, the 2025 World Series MVP, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, leads the charge for Team Samurai Japan's starting rotation.
He is coming off a 2025 campaign in which he improved as the calendar kept progressing.
During the regular season, he posted a 2.49 ERA in 173.1 innings pitched. He notched 30 starts and struck out 201 batters enroute to his first All-Star bid.
The Dodgers began their trek towards back-to-back World Series titles, with Yamamoto at the helm.
In six appearances during the postseason, he recorded an astounding 1.45 ERA in 37.1 innings pitched.
He also recorded two consecutive complete games in Game Two of the National League Championship Series and Game Two of the 2025 World Series.
Yamamoto's contributions to the Dodgers in 2025 were historic, and he now enters into yet another pressure-filled environment.
With pool play set to open up on Friday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts revealed Yamamoto's innings limit on Thursday.
According to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Yamamoto will throw three innings in Team Samurai Japan's opener against Chinese Taipei.
Dave Roberts said Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to throw three innings tonight (tomorrow morning) for Samurai Japan.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 5, 2026
Yamamoto also threw three innings in his last start for the Dodgers before departing to join Team Samurai Japan.
In those three innings, Yamamoto struck out four against the San Francisco Giants and gave up a solo home run to Willy Adames.
In two games of Cactus League play, he has penciled in an ERA of 5.79, 4 2/3 innings pitched, seven strikeouts, and a WHIP of 1.71.
Team Samurai Japan plans to use Yamamoto's services plentifully in their goal of repeating as champions.
After Team Samurai faces off against Chinese Taipei, they play Team Korea on Saturday, March 7.
They follow that up with a game against Australia on March 8 and round out pool play against Czechia on March 10.
It is also likely that he will be the Opening Day starter for Los Angeles in their matchup against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 26.
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