Yoshinobu Yamamoto will represent the Los Angeles Dodgers on the National League pitching staff for the 2026 MLB All-Star Game at Citizens Bank Park.
He joins Shohei Ohtani, Max Muncy, Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages as Dodgers on the NL team. Although Mookie Betts, Will Smith and Teoscar Hernández advanced to the final round of fan voting, none of the them were elected as a starter or included among the reserves.
The Dodgers also have an All-Star snub in Justin Wrobleski being left off the pitching staff
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto, second selection
Yamamoto was selected to his second consecutive All-Star team after first making the roster during the 2025 season. The Dodgers’ ace has gone 8-5 with a 2.67 ERA, 3.41 FIP and 0.89 WHIP across 97.2 innings while striking out 24.1% of hitters and walking just 5.1% so far this season.
Yamamoto has not been as dominant this year in terms of strikeouts, but he has still been making MLB history.
Yamamoto joined Greg Maddux as the only MLB pitchers over the last 50 years to retire their final 20 batters on three separate occasions.
When the right-hander nearly had a perfect game against the Chicago White Sox, he became the first pitcher in MLB history to retire the final 22 hitters in his last outing, and then the first 22 batters of an ensuing start.
Yamamoto’s stretch began against the Los Angeles Angels as he got through eight innings. He gave up an RBI triple in the first inning and then dominated the Angels from that point forward.
Yamamoto’s streak wound up reaching 45 consecutive batters retired before the Betts error with two outs in the eighth inning. That tied Mark Buehrle (from 2009) for the second-longest stretch in MLB history.
The MLB record for most batters retired in a row is 46, held by Yusmeiro Petit when he accomplished the feat in 2014, according to Elias Sports Bureau.
In addition, Yamamoto joined Jake Arrieta as the only pitchers to record 12 consecutive quality starts on the road while allowing 46 or fewer hits since earned runs became an official stat in 1913.
Yamamoto’s impressive stretch began on Aug. 18, 2025, when he allowed three runs over seven innings against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Since then, he has notched quality starts on the road against the Padres (three times), Baltimore Orioles, San Francisco Giants (twice), Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, Milwaukee Brewers and Chicago White Sox.
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