Dodgers Interview: Yama satisfied with outing, sees room for improvement

TEMPE, AZ– Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s first spring outing of 2026 came in a lopsided Dodgers win, 15-2 over the Angels on Saturday in Tempe, and his line looked like a typical early-camp tune-up with a little bit of everything in it. He worked 1.2 innings, allowed three hits and two runs, with one earned and one unearned, struck out three, and walked nobody. The first inning was sharp. The second inning gave him a few things to take back into his next side session.

After the game, Yamamoto sounded exactly like you would expect in late February: focused, measured, and already thinking about the next outing as he balances his Dodgers buildup with Team Japan and the World Baseball Classic.

Asked what he was thinking about in his first game before joining Team Japan for the WBC, Yamamoto said he went to the mound expecting the game itself to help bring some of his feel back. “It was my first game of the year, so I went out there thinking I could get back some of that game feel, the kind of things you only get by pitching in a game,” he said.

And in a bit of levity that was perhaps somewhat lost in translation, Yama reported that Dodgers skipper Dave Roberts jumped the gun somewhat in wishing him well at the WBC. “I was able to stay focused and get into the first inning well. And when I came off the mound at the end, the manager told me, ‘Good luck.’ [I told him] I still have one more game, so I want to keep working and do my best.”

He also shared that the next outing should come around the 27th of this month, which lines up with this being one step in a bigger ramp-up rather than a one-off appearance. That came through in the way he described today’s work.

When he was asked about the plan and whether there had been discussions with the Dodgers about timing, especially with the WBC coming up and after everything he experienced last October, Yamamoto said the process has been collaborative. “Yes, we talked and decided the plan together,” he said. “And I think we’ll keep talking as we go from here too. Of course I’m going to make sure I’m ready for the Dodgers’ Opening Day as well, so while balancing that, I want to treat each game, one by one, as important.”

That answer was classic Yamamoto. You can hear the two tracks at once. There is the WBC responsibility with Samurai Japan, and there is the Dodgers season right behind it. He is building toward both, and he is framing it one outing at a time.

The most interesting part of his comments came when he got into the actual feel of the outing. He said he came in with a better sensation after the previous day’s workout, and he liked the way the first inning came out. “Since yesterday’s practice, I had an even better feel,” Yamamoto said. “I thought I made really good pitches in the first inning. In the second inning, there was a little bit of a long gap, so I didn’t get into it as well.”

That matches what the box score and game flow showed. He struck out three, looked crisp early, then had a little traffic in the second while the Angels scored twice, one of those runs coming on a left-field error that made it an unearned run on his line. For a spring opener, that is exactly the kind of inning pitchers usually end up talking about afterward because it gives them something specific to sharpen before the next turn.

Yamamoto then got into one of the most useful details from the outing, and it was the kind of answer pitchers give when they are treating spring games as part lab work, part competition. He pointed to his work from the stretch and the chance to make adjustments in smaller areas before the next start. “I also got to throw a lot from the set position,” he said. “So I want to make some more detailed adjustments and be ready for the next one.”

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