Dodgers Pitcher Yamamoto Opens Up on World Series Performance

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered a full performance in Game 2 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning in game two of the 2025 World Series at Rogers Center in Toronto, Ontario, on Oct. 25, 2025. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images

The Toronto Blue Jays looked ready in Game 2 to pick up from where they left off in Game 1 of the World Series.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto instead silenced the Blue Jays’ bats in a 5–1 complete game victory on Saturday. Yamamoto threw the first complete World Series game in a decade when Johnny Cueto did it in 2015 for the Kansas City Royals.

“I racked up my pitch count early,” Yamamoto told FOX Sports via an interpreter. “But I think I took it like a one-inning by one inning, and then, I think I was executing my pitches very well today.”

Pitchers don’t go the distance as often anymore, though Yamamoto just did in Game 2 of the NLCS. Yamamoto became one of the first pitchers since former Atlanta Braves great Tom Glavine to throw back-to-back complete postseason games, with one being in the World Series, per the FOX broadcast. In addition, Yamamoto became the first Dodgers pitcher with that feat since Orel Heshiser did in 1988 when the team won the World Series.

Former San Francisco Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner had the last multiple complete game performance in the playoffs during the 2014 season. The last consecutive complete playoff games performance came in 2001 when Curt Schilling did it for the Arizona Diamond Backs.

“Outstanding. Uber competitive. Special,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters regarding Yamamoto after the game. “He was just locked in tonight.”

“It’s one of those things he said before the series, is—losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight,” Roberts added.

Teams gravitate toward specialized relievers such as lefthanders instead of making the starter go the distance. Yamamoto, who has a $325 million contract with the Dodgers, does it anyway.

That’s also despite facing a Blue Jays team that came in fresh off a Game 1 performance with 11 runs. Yamamoto never let the Blue Jays come close to that performance on Saturday as he limited the AL champions to a run on four hits.

“It was trying to be going into the game relaxing, but you know, it’s a World Series. So I kind of get early on because I was kind of like … throwing with unnecessary tension. So I just adjusted that,” Yamamoto said via an interpreter.

Toronto couldn’t rally as Yamamoto struck out the side in the eighth inning, and he made quick work of the Blue Jays in a hitless ninth inning. He retired 17 straight batters during the game, and he didn’t walk any batters in the victory.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’ bats awakened after a Game 1 slumber when the Blue Jays ran away with it, 11–4. Dodgers catcher Will Smith got the offense going with an RBI single to score Freddie Freeman in the first. Smith then hit a home run and drove in three RBI to spark the offense, and his home run erased the 1–1 tie in the seventh inning.

“It’s been fun these last two outings,” Smith told the FOX Sports crew afterward. “[Yamamoto] can kind of do everything. Locate his fastball so well. He’s got the curveball, the split. Throwing some good cutters today, some two-seams. He just kind of had everything going and really keeping them off balance.”

Max Muncy added to the Dodgers offense in support of Yamamoto’s big game with a home run for a 3–1 lead in the seventh. In the eighth, Andy Pages came home on a wild pitch, and Smith’s groundout led to Shohei Ohtani scoring a run for a 5–1 advantage.

Toronto won’t see Yamamoto again unless the series goes to Game 6, which would be back at Rogers Centre. The series shifts to Los Angeles for the next three games with a 1–1 series tie.