Heading into the 2013-14 offseason, the Yankees were in desperate need of new energy. The lineup had holes and question marks pretty much everywhere, and the rotation saw the 41-year-old Andy Pettitte retire, the underwhelming 27-year-old Phil Hughes depart in free agency, the 32-year-old CC Sabathia battle with reduced velocity, and the 38-year-old Hiroki Kuroda ponder whether to remain in the United States or go home to Japan to finish his playing career. Fortunately for them, a young Japanese
ace, Masahiro Tanaka, announced his intention to play in the United States, and after a long winter that saw the NPB-to-MLB posting process adjusted, the 25-year-old righty inked a seven-year, $155 million deal to don the pinstripes.
It was, by any measure, a success.
Masahiro Tanaka
Born: November 1, 1988 (Itami, Hyōgo, Japan)
Yankees Tenure: 2014-20
Born and raised in Itami, Japan, a city of about 200,000 people near Osaka, Tanaka took to baseball at a young age. Although in elementary school the naturally gifted swing garnered attention, he quickly took to the mound in high school, emerging as the ace of the staff and the most highly-touted pitching prospect in the country. He made the jump to pro ball at the age of 18, selected by the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, and quickly made his mark.
Tanaka won the Pacific League Most Valuable Rookie award in 2007, participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, helped Samurai Japan win the 2009 World Baseball Classic, and in 2013, led the Golden Eagles to their first-ever Japan Series victory by starting in Game 6 and coming in to close Game 7. Tanaka’s 2013 numbers were phenomenal: a 1.27 ERA and 0.943 WHIP in 212 innings with 183 strikeouts to 32 walks and just six homers allowed. Oh, and he ended the year with a pristine 24-0 record, part of an NPB record streak of 25 consecutive wins.
Following the 2013 campaign, Tanaka expressed interest in playing Major League Baseball, and in January 2014 — later than usual, as the two leagues renegotiated the posting system — he was finally made available for MLB teams to sign. Despite an intense pursuit by the Dodgers, Angels, and Mariners, Tanaka eventually reached a deal with the Yankees, who pulled out all the stops to reel in their new ace.
Despite the high expectations, the Yankees tried to tamper excitement by delaying Tanaka’s MLB debut until the fourth game of the season, on April 4, 2014. He surrendered a home run to the first batter he faced, former Yankee Melky Cabrera. As it would turn out, though, he just got his first lowlight out of the way early, as he responded with seven innings of three-run ball (albeit only two of those runs were earned) to notch his first career stateside win.
For the first three months, Tanaka looked to be the dominant starter that everyone hoped he would become. Through his first 16 starts, he had a 2.10 ERA and struck out well over a batter per inning as he earned his first career All-Star nod. His stamina was impressive as well, going at least eight innings in five of those outings, including three complete games and his first career shutout in the Subway Series against the Mets on May 14th:
Everything changed, though, after a subpar start in early July, when Tanaka began to feel discomfort in his right elbow. An MRI revealed a partially torn UCL, and he hit the IL for the first time in his career. Rather than undergo the knife, however, Tanaka opted for PRP injections and rehab, and … his arm has largely remained healthy to this day; the other shoe never dropped. It’s stood as largely the exception rather than the rule in most of these situations, but it worked out quite well for Tanaka.
Officially taking over the mantle as Yankees ace in 2015, the righty never quite recaptured the dominant form he had for the first half of 2014 over a whole season, coming closest with a 4.7 fWAR 2016 season that saw him earn some down ballot Cy Young votes. What he did, though, was develop a reputation as a big game pitcher, who came up biggest when the lights shone brightest. He held the Astros to just two runs on four hits in the 2015 Wild Card Game, and even though the Yankees lost that matchup, it hardly Tanaka’s fault (blame the bats getting blanked by Dallas Keuchel). Two years later—following a retooling of the team in 2016—with New York’s backs against the wall and facing a sweep in the 2017 ALDS, Tanaka outdueled Cleveland’s Carlos Carrasco with seven shutout innings to secure a 1-0 win that would turn the tide. Thanks to Tanaka and Greg Bird, the Yankees survived Game 3 and went on to complete the rare 0-2 Division Series comeback.
In two starts against Houston in the following ALCS, he allowed just two runs in 13 innings — which included seven innings in Houston, when the Astros knew what pitches were coming. Tanaka secured the Yankees’ only win over the Red Sox in the 2018 ALDS, and helped the Bombers jump out to a 1-0 lead over the Astros in the 2019 ALCS (following his second stateside All-Star season). As the decade came to a close, he had a sterling 1.76 career playoff ERA in 46 innings.
Tanaka’s last year in the Bronx was the COVID-shortened 2020 season. It began as badly as it possibly could, with the pitcher drilled in the head by a Giancarlo Stanton line drive, although he did manage to make 10 starts that year. For the first time in his career, he struggled in the postseason, as he allowed 11 runs in eight innings across two starts. Unfortunately, that would be the last we saw Tanaka in pinstripes; due in part to anti-Asian discrimination faced in the United States during the height of the pandemic and a desire to pitch loser to home, he returned to Japan.
Tanaka began his second act in Japan with four years back with the Golden Eagles, earning his seventh and eighth career NPB All-Star nods in 2021 and 2023; during the latter season, he notched his 2,500th professional strikeout between NPB and MLB. After the 2024 campaign however, he embarked on a new NPB journey, signing with the storied Yomiuri Giants. At the end of 2025, Tanaka recorded his 200th career victory, joining Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, and his old Yankees teammate Kuroda as the only pitchers to reach that total between the two leagues.
While he doesn’t quite pitch as much as he did during his prime, he remains with the Giants today — where in a fun twist of fate he will now be managed by fellow former Yankee, Hideki Matsui!
Happy birthday, #TANAK!
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
