Padres' Yu Darvish Sends Message to Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto After World Series

Jul 12, 2025; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla (57) talks with starting pitcher Yu Darvish (11) during a mound visit in the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: David Frerker-Imagn Images | David Frerker-Imagn Images

Although the San Diego Padres weren't the ones hoisting the Commissioner's Trophy at the end of the 2025 campaign — and despite the fact that it was a division rival who was — veteran right-hander Yu Darvish took time to shout out his fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Yamamoto had one of the gutsiest performances from a pitcher in the World Series, pitching a complete game, a 96-pitch six-strikeout game, and the final 2.2 innings of the Fall Classic on zero days' rest. The hurler earned the win in all three of those games.

Darvish took to Twitter/X to express immense praise for his World Baseball Classic teammate.

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山本くん色々と凄すぎた😳

— ダルビッシュ有(Yu Darvish) (@faridyu) November 2, 2025

"Yamamoto-kun was way too amazing in all sorts of ways," Darvish said in a post translated from Japanese to English.

During Game 6, Yamamoto tossed six innings and six strikeouts, allowing just one earned run. The next day, he tossed the final 34 pitches of the season and did so in an incredibly difficult scenario.

With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blue Jays knocked out Dodgers southpaw (and former Padres Cy Young award winner) Blake Snell. Yamamoto trotted out of the bullpen with two on and the season on the line.

Two pitches later, the bases were loaded after Yamamoto hit a batter. The Dodgers ace generated a ground ball that very narrowly led to the force out at home, and on the next pitch, the final out of the inning was secured via a fly ball (that knocked over Dodgers outfielder Kiké Hernández in the process).

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Yamamoto simply entering the game with no rest and in such an important moment is already worthy of Darvish's praise, but to get the win and will his team to victory is something that, regardless of the team he plays for, is part of what makes baseball so special.

Another decorated veteran, future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, took time to celebrate Yamamoto as well — but given that his right arm was a massive part of why he will now retire with three championships and end his career with a Game 7 win, he struggled to describe the performance.

“I don’t think you’ll ever see what you saw Yoshi do tonight," Kershaw said. "That was probably the most gutsy, ballsy thing any guy has ever done. He’s used to pitching on a week’s rest the whole season. For him to come in and say he’s willing to do that and throw not just one inning but – what was it, (2.2 innings) whatever it was? You can’t even describe that.”

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