Here’s When Roki Sasaki Will Make His Dodgers Debut

Here’s When Roki Sasaki Will Make His Dodgers Debut

Roki Sasaki makes his U.S. spring training pitching debut this week before beginning in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Tokyo Series next month.

Roki Sasaki — the latest, biggest member to the Los Angeles Dodgers superteam — made news last week when he announced his marriage on Instagram.

The lucky lady — along with millions of fans in Los Angeles and back home in Japan — must be excitedly expecting the pitching phenom’s MLB debut.

Sasaki’s first regular-season start with the Dodgers is slated to take place not in L.A., but in Japan, where his new team and the Chicago Cubs will kick off the 2025 season 10 days before everyone else as they duke it out in the Tokyo Series.

The Dodgers now possess Japan’s three top players on their roster — Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Sasaki — making it only natural that they open their season across the Pacific in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts stated earlier this month that Yamamoto will likely start Game 1 on March 18, followed by Sasaki in Game 2 on March 19.

Roki Sasaki Makes Spring Training Debut This Week

Fans anxious to see Sasaki’s electrifying stuff stateside won’t have to wait until the Dodgers’ first regular season home series on March 27 against the Detroit Tigers.

Sasaki is slated to pitch in his first game in the U.S. this week in spring training. But the Dodgers are treating Sasaki carefully.

Last year, he demonstrated dips in his velocity and has a history of elbow and shoulder troubles – presumably the result of his devastating splitter.

The humble hurler likewise considers himself as a work in progress – despite having already threw a perfect game.

(He would have had a second had his manager not hauled him out of the next game at the conclusion of eight innings.)

Sasaki is set to make his debut appearance on Tuesday at the Dodgers’ spring training complex at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, in a “modified B game” against the Chicago White Sox, according to Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.

The Dodgers’ Sasaki Strategy

With a roster so filled with stars it could occupy two or three MLB teams, the Dodgers are in no rush with Sasaki.

At barely 23 years old, he’s considered as the franchise’s future ace — and significantly, the only Dodgers starter born this century.

The oldest of the Dodgers’ eventual six-man rotation — Blake Snell (32), Tyler Glasnow (31), and Ohtani (30) — are hardly ancient by any means. But L.A., now perhaps baseball’s Evil Empire — has time on its side and an abundance of talent.

That allows the Dodgers to treat the splitter-throwing Sasaki with an abundance of caution.

Sasaki will fill out the five-man rotation to start the season, which will increase to six once Ohtani returns to throwing.

The Dodgers have the luxury of taking their time with Sasaki and ensuring that this precious gem remains precisely that

 

 

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