No pitcher on the roster appeared in more games for the Dodgers in 2025 than Anthony Banda, perhaps not the hero this team deserved, but the one it needed to get through a grind of a regular season filled
with underwhelming performances, some disappointment, and a great need for innings-eaters.
Part of a roster that performed a full 180 in terms of which unit of its pitching it relied on in the most crucial times from 2024 to 2025, Banda found himself immersed in that change despite posting his usual steady numbers, for the most part.
Being as productive in 2025 as he was in his first season with the Dodgers, a point that we’ll get to a bit later on, Banda performed a much larger and more effective role in the 2024 postseason as part of a loaded bullpen than he did in 2025 as a member of a weaker unit.
After not even appearing in the Wild Card Round, Banda earned some trust with one crucial inning against the Phillies in the NLDS. Shortly after that, he proceeded to implode in the World Series, allowing six earned runs in the Fall Classic, right as the Dodgers needed him the most. This performance, much like for the rest of the bullpen, was a far cry from the one run allowed in eight innings during the 2024 postseason.
Now, while the results (3.18 ERA in 2025 and 3.08 in 2024) were similar during this past regular season, Banda went about things on a different path, both in terms of his approach and also how he achieved those results.
For starters, after seeing that four-seam fastball look like the most vulnerable of his heavily utilized pitches in 2024, Banda leaned much more heavily on the slider in 2025. While that negatively affected his K-BB% ratio, there were plenty of positives to take away from this new approach.
Banda managed to sustain a similar ERA by drastically cutting down on the number of hits he allowed, courtesy of an unsustainably low BABIP of .227. Even if some of that skill set could be argued as sustainable, Banda will need to cut down on the walk rate of over 12 percent he put up in 2025. He doesn’t have anywhere near the level of stuff to negate something like that on a long-term basis. His 23.2 K% since becoming a Dodger highlights that rather fairly.
2025 particulars
Age: 32
Stats: 71 games, 3.19 ERA, 3.64 xERA, 65 IP, 34 walks, 61 strikeouts
Salary: $1 million
Game of the year
The Dodgers trailed the Twins at home 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning of a late July matchup. Banda took the mound, and he struck out the side, stranding a one-out single, enough to give the Dodgers the opportunity to come back and win it in walk-off fashion after nine. At the time, Banda jumped to a 5-1 record.
Roster status
Banda is once again arbitration eligible, set to reach free agency at the end of the 2027 campaign.
