Dodgers Don't Know How Often They Can Use Roki Sasaki Yet

Oct 1, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) reacts to the final out against the Cincinnati Reds during game two of the Wildcard round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed the Dodgers are unsure of how often they can use reliever Roki Sasaki in games due to his recent spell on the injured list.

Sasaki had been on the IL with right shoulder impingement since May, and only returned to MLB on Sept. 24. He took a new role upon his return, and has become an important relief arm for the Dodgers in just three appearances.

The right-hander threw a perfect inning in his return game, and kept a scoreless inning in his second appearance back just two days later. He also came into the NL Wild Card series to shut the Cincinnati Reds down in Game 2. He struck out two batters in each of those three appearances.

“We don’t know yet,” Friedman said of how often Sasaki can pitch. “We used him two out of three (days) and he rebounded from that well. Beyond that, we don’t know yet.

“He’s going to get important outs for us. I don’t know when.”

More news: Roki Sasaki Left Dodgers Teammates in Awe After Dominant Wild Card Performance

With how well Sasaki has been pitching, the Dodgers will hope they can keep him healthy for as long as possible. The right-hander has breathed life into a bullpen which has looked rather shaky over the last several weeks.

Sasaki spent more than a month on his rehab spell, largely due to poor starts towards the beginning and dealing with diminished velocity compared to what the Dodgers had seen earlier in the season. He has since made a full reovery, reaching 100 mph on his fastball as was advertised. Friedman commented on the changes the Dodgers needed to make to catch Sasaki up to speed.

“His delivery had gotten out of whack," Friedman said. "The compensation for the oblique injury (during his 2024 season in Japan) and then obviously it led to some shoulder soreness. So just getting him feeling right and then syncing up his body again was really important and he was all-in obviously on doing that. It’s just how to get from A to B. Connor McGuiness, Mark Prior, Rob Hill have done an unbelievable job with him and the way he worked coming back made for a really devastating combo in terms of getting him back to the point of what we saw tonight (in WCS Game 2).”

More news: Dodgers’ Dave Roberts, Mookie Betts Confident LA Can Win World Series

The Dodgers are heading into the NLDS against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday at 3:38 p.m. PT, and will hope Sasaki will have had enough rest to be able to put together another outstanding relief performance.

For more Dodgers news, head over to Dodgers on SI.