Roki Sasaki was expected to be a fixture of the Dodgers’ rotation for the 2025 season. After eight starts, Sasaki would miss four months of time, and instead of returning to the rotation, he was tasked
with appearing out of the bullpen to end the season.
After two dominant relief outings, Sasaki was named the go-to closer for the postseason. He went on to post a 0.84 ERA across nine games in relief in the postseason and he made Dave Roberts’ life easier when managing an underperforming bullpen.
Having him be a force out of the bullpen is not why the Dodgers signed Sasaki. The plan is to have him back in the starting rotation for the 2026 season, reports Brian Murphy of MLB.com, the same plans they envisioned for him before the start of the 2025 season.
“We’re definitely viewing him as a starter and a really good one, and we’ll continue to work this offseason and put him in the best position to be ready in Spring Training to help us win again.”
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Kiké Hernández took to his Instagram to announce that he successfully underwent surgery on his left elbow on Friday, rendering him unavailable to represent Team Puerto Rico in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. “I had to repair my elbow extension as I suffered a tear in May,” Hernández typed, “and continuing to play with the urge to repeat as World Series champions caused it to break the bone.”
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Dodgers sparked a renewed interest in former New York Yankees reliever Devin Williams, and the Dodgers have now expressed interest in former Atlanta Braves reliever Raisel Iglesias, tweets Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com.
Former Dodger starter and current free agent Dustin May spoke about the Dodgers winning the World Series despite him being traded away to the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline, writes Christopher Smith of Masslive.com. Smith also reports that May is “fully back to normal and that his elbow feels great.”
“I played with the guys for a long time ,” May said here at a red carpet event before the MLB Awards show at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. “They were all my boys. It was definitely very fun to watch… I wasn’t in the playoffs with them, but I played with them for four and a half months or however long it was. So I definitely helped and contributed for them to get there.”
