Yoshinobu Yamamoto closed the book on his sophomore MLB season with six shutout innings on Thursday to help the Los Angeles Dodgers clinch the National League West title. Yamamoto finished 2025 with a 2.49 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 201 strikeouts and 173.2 innings pitched across 30 starts. With 201 strikeouts, Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher to reach 200 in a single season since Walker Buehler in 2021.
The complete game is all but dead -- no pitcher has more than one nine-inning complete game this season. One hundred pitches is now viewed as the top limit for a pitch count, with pitchers rarely exceeding 110 -- Randy Johnson had more 110-pitch outings just in 1993 than every starter combined in 2025. Pitchers get more days off between starts. And the list goes on.
He stuck around the Padres organization in the lower levels of the minors until he was plucked from San Diego by the Marlins in the minor league phase of the 2021 Rule 5 draft. He made his organizational debut in 2022 and mostly pitched well at the Single-A level before enjoying something of a breakout season in 2023 when he posted a 1.84 ERA in 58 2/3 innings of work between the High-A and Double-A levels.
Noah Davis was traded to the Minnesota Twins from the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations after being designated for assignment. He had previously been claimed off waivers by the Dodgers after being acquired from the Red Sox.