Dodgers to Make Decision on Roki Sasaki's Postseason Spot This Week

Jun 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) laughs with starting pitche Roki Sasaki (11) and trainer Yosuke Nakajima in the dugout prior to the game against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had some abysmal outings from their bullpen this month.

With October looming, the starting rotation has been stellar, but if the relievers aren't holding up their end of the bargain, the quest to become baseball's first back-to-back champions will end far too early.

There is, however, one potential option to help out the struggling pitching roster, but with no postseason experience and having not pitched since May, right-hander Roki Sasaki can prove to be a dark horse option in October.

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Manager Dave Roberts spoke on LA's decision to potentially feature Sasaki back on the Dodgers, and provided a promising update.

“Roki was really good. The stuff was good. He’ll fly to Arizona to come meet us there,” Roberts said. “We’re going to have a conversation, but he won’t be available to pitch until Wednesday.”

Sasaki upped his average fastball speed to 98.6 mph and hurled eight strikeouts across 4.2 innings of work on his Sept. 9 rehab start, but his last two appearances have been out of the bullpen for one inning a piece.

Roberts touched on how this can potentially be to get his young pitcher more accustomed to a bullpen role.

“The first thing is you have to see how he responds to something he’s never done,” Roberts said, “Looking at the Thursday-Sunday, two days in between, it’s probably one-inning bursts. But if it does happen, the postseason is very unpredictable.”

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Speaking of an unpredictable postseason, this is a Dodgers team that had starting pitcher Walker Buehler close out the World Series last year amid a decimated bullpen.

Roberts knows what Sasaki needs to continue to improve upon, but at the end of the day, Doc seemed confident that the right-hander can make an impact this postseason.

“Velocity, strike-throwing, the split that gets swing-and-miss, and just the ability emotionally to handle coming out of the ’pen and attacking guys is something he’s never done before,” Roberts said. “It’s still pitching, it’s still baseball. I feel he can do it, but it’s up to him to go out there and perform.”

Sasaki logged a 4.72 ERA across his first eight starts of his MLB career, but compared to his 2.10 ERA across four seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball, his expectations for this postseason will be through the roof if he returns to the ballclub.

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