Yoshinobu Yamamoto helped lead the Los Angeles Dodgers starting rotation to a strong finish in the regular season, and with that was recognized as National League Pitcher of the Month for September.
It’s the second time this season Yamamoto earned the honor as he previously was NL Pitcher of the Month for March/April. The right-hander was the only pitcher to win the award twice in 2025.
Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher since Clayton Kershaw (June and July 2014) to receive it multiple times in the same season. Yamamoto additionally joined Shohei Ohtani as the only Dodgers players to earn monthly honors this year. Ohtani was named NL Player of the Month for May.
Yamamoto now is one of five Japanese-born pitchers to win the award (nine times total). He joined fellow countrymen Yu Darvish (July/August 2020, September/October 2022), Hideki Irabu (May 1998, July 1999), Hideo Nomo (June 1995, September 1996) and Masahiro Tanaka (May 2014).
In four starts during September, Yamamoto went 1-0 with a 0.67 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and .081 batting average against. One of the outings saw him nearly complete a no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles.
Yamamoto allowed just two runs over 27 innings pitched while averaging 11.33 strikeouts per nine innings in his final four starts. Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in three consecutive starts since Kershaw from June 29-July 9, 2017.
The month saw Yamamoto lead the Majors in ERA, opponents’ batting average and WHIP. He also was one of 10 qualified pitchers to go undefeated in September.
Overall for the season, Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 200 strikeouts since Walker Buehler accomplished the feat in 2021.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto 2025 playoffs
After last being on the mound in the game the Dodgers clinched the NL West title, Yamamoto’s next start is coming in Game 2 of the Wild Card Series.
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