On paper, the Dodgers’ starting rotation consists of a four-headed behemoth comprising of All-Stars and a pandora’s box of options to fill in the final spot. With Blake Snell and Gavin Stone set to begin the season on the injured list, it opened up a wild horse race to see which young pitchers could support the back-end of the rotation.
Both River Ryan and Kyle Hurt enjoyed fruitful springs after having their entire 2025 season wiped away due to injury, but they were both demoted back to Triple-A Oklahoma City before Saturday’s Cactus League finale. Roki Sasaki, despite his ongoing struggles, will be a fixture in the rotation— for now. The final spot comes down to either Emmet Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski, but the Dodgers are still uncertain as to whether they’ll implement a five or six-man rotation, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was less definitive Friday, not naming a fifth starter when asked. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the situation between Sheehan and Justin Wrobleski was more “nuanced” than one being the fifth and the other the sixth starter with “piggyback” outings a possibility early in the season.
Sheehan struggled over 10 2/3 innings on the mound this spring, posting a 5.91 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP, while Wrobleski posted a slightly better 5.40 ERA and 1.08 WHIP across 8 1/3 innings.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto was stellar in his final tune-up of spring on Friday, where he silenced the San Diego Padres over five shutout innings, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out seven on 68 pitches.
Yamamoto spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA post-game about his most recent start as he prepares to spearhead the Dodgers regular season on Thursday.
“There were a few things I wanted to try, and today I was able to get into the game very nicely, so I think that was good. With runners on base, I was able to calmly throw my pitch. There were a few pitches, especially like a first pitch strike, and that was something that I was focused on going to.”
The Dodgers now have a better idea as to how to approach the new ABS system, as Sonja Chen of MLB.com notes that challenges will be used conservatively and predominantly on the offensive side of the at-bat.
“I feel like as hitters, we kind of laid off a little bit and didn’t use it the way that we were supposed to use it early on, because we were saving it for the catcher and to have a conversation,” [Miguel] Rojas said. “But now that we have a little bit more clarity of how we’re going to use it, I think the team is going to start getting better.”
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