Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named the 2025 World Series most valuable player after appearing in three Fall Classic games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, including the deciding Game 7 on no days of rest.
Yamamoto pitched 17.2 innings in his three games for the Dodgers, going 3-0 while allowing just two runs on nine hits with 15 strikeouts and two walks. Overall in the postseason, he pitched to a 1.45 ERA in 37.1 innings with 33 strikeouts and a 0.78 WHIP.
Yamamoto pitched Game 2 against the Blue Jays and gave the Dodgers a complete game with nine innings of one-run ball to earn the win. He allowed just four hits, struck out eight and walked no one.
It was the second consecutive game Yamamoto tossed a complete game in the postseason after he also gave the Dodgers nine innings and just one run allowed in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Yamamoto game back in a must-win Game 6 while the Dodgers were down 3-2 in the series, and led them to another win. This time he went six innings while allowing one run on five hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
After Game 6, the 27-year-old said he would be available in Game 7 if called upon, and that ended up being the case as he entered on no days of rest after throwing 96 pitches. Yamamoto entered in the ninth inning with two runners on and one out, but ended up escaping a bases loaded jam without a run scoring to send the game to extra innings.
He went back out for the 10th to give the Dodgers another scoreless inning, and then returned for the 11th inning to close out the game after Will Smith’s go-ahead homer. Yamamoto worked around a leadoff double and walk to close it out on a double play.
Dodgers repeat as World Series champions
The Dodgers won their ninth World Series title Saturday, becoming the first MLB team to repeat as champions in 25 years with a thrilling 5-4 comeback victory in 11 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7.
After Miguel Rojas tied the game in the top of the ninth, Will Smith put the Dodgers ahead for the first time in the game with an 11th-inning blast.
This was the first time since 1965 that the Dodgers have won a World Series Game 7 and second time overall, joined by their only Brooklyn title in 1955, and it’s the eighth time out of nine that the franchise clinched a World Series away from Los Angeles.
World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had already won two games as a starter, won his third game of the Series by closing it out with 2.2 innings of shutout relief, ending the longest World Series Game 7 since 1997
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