Starting pitching once again figures to be a strength for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2026 after carrying them to a World Series championship in 2025.
The Dodgers have both elite talent and a ton of depth in their rotation, which is led by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell. In addition, L.A. also has Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Justin Wrobleski, Ben Casparius, Kyle Hurt, Bobby Miller and Landon Knack as potential options to fill out their rotation.
With all the talent available and a desire to protect their arms, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shared the team plans on using a six-man rotation once again in 2026, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I think early, it’s hard to say it won’t be (a six-man starting rotation),” Roberts said. “How beholden we are to that, for how long, I don’t know. But I think it’s easy to say that because the early part of the season we’re very mindful of giving guys rest to keep guys built up. I think that lends itself to that. It’s hard to say right now who those participants are. It really is. But I do think that with the pitching, the starting pitching depth we have, it makes sense as I sit here right now. How that looks, end of April? I’m not sure yet.”
Yamamoto, Ohtani, Glasnow and Snell are locked into rotation spots as long as they’re healthy, so that leaves two spots up for grabs. It would be surprising if Emmet Sheehan doesn’t claim one of those, while Roki Sasaki should be the favorite to fill out the last spot.
That also allows the Dodgers to slow-play Ryan and Stone as they return from Tommy John surgery and limit their innings to be available for later in the season. Wrobleski and Casparius both have the most experience in the bullpen, so continuing those roles as multi-inning relievers and emergency starters makes sense as well.
Going with a six-man rotation also allows the Dodgers to keep Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki on a schedule of pitching once per week, as they did in Japan and throughout their MLB careers thus far. In addition, it also allows them to limit the innings of Glasnow and Snell, who have both dealt with injury issues in the past few years.
Bobby Miller working his way back
After putting together a great rookie season in 2023, Miller lost his spot in the Dodgers’ rotation in 2024 after a disastrous 13 appearances to start the year. Those struggles also continued into 2025.
Miller is likely going to begin the season in Triple-A, but he is focused on getting back to the point he was at in 2023, and eventually surpassing that.
“That’s the motivation for me right now, to get back to how I was a few years ago,” Miller said. “I know it’s still in there, and there’s more than that as well.”
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