Dodgers' Roki Sasaki Almost Didn't Make Transition to Bullpen That Saved LA's Season

Oct 9, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Roki Sasaki (11) delivers in the eighth inning of game four of the NLDS during the 2025 MLB playoffs against the Philadelphia Phillies at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Roki Sasaki has been a godsend for the Dodgers this postseason, coming through in relief game after game.

Through five appearances, Sasaki has pitched six innings, giving up just two hit, two walks and one earned run.

The 23-year-old rookie has two saves, including in NLDS Game 2 after inheriting a gnarly ninth inning with runners on both first and third. Sasaki's performance has been so vital to the Dodgers' success, that some MLB analysts are even crowning him the team's Most Valuable Player so far in the postseason.

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However, at some points this season, Sasaki wasn't even a consideration to make the Dodgers' postseason roster.

After entering the major leagues with a world of expectations, Sasaki largely disappointed in his first few outings before landing on the injured list with a shoulder injury. Sasaki spent time in the minors, where he didn't shine until the last few outings — including an eight-strikeout performance days before meeting with the Dodgers about his role in the postseason.

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With an excess of viable starting pitchers in Blake Snell, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers knew that Sasaki would not hold a role as a starter in the postseason — although they assured him he would be a starter long-term, according to Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times.

Sasaki told the Japanese magazine Shunkan Bunshun that he was "very hesitant" to make a temporary transition to the bullpen. At one point, Sasaki said, he had been a closer in middle school, but the 23-year-old had played a lot of baseball — purely as a starter — since. However, ultimately the allure of postseason baseball was too tempting, and Sasaki was in.

“Because they will let me try to start again next season,” Sasaki told the LA Times, “it was a relatively easy decision to make.”

Now, Sasaki will move forward as one of, if not, the Dodgers' go-to guy in close games. While Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he wants to limit appearances where Sasaki pitches multiple innings, he made it clear how important the rookie is to the bullpen.

"Perfect world, [Sasaki would pitch just] one inning, because there's a cost to two innings or certainly three innings as far as on the backside of that, right?" Roberts said. "But it's certainly, you know, helped stabilize the pen with leverage. Obviously, our guys have been going through it.

"But I do think in the last week our guys, we've seen some good things out of the guys out of the pen, but certainly Roki has been a big part of it."

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