After a stellar season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting.
The win went to Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, who was voted in consistently; Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez finished second.
Yamamoto was on 29 of the 30 ballots, receiving 16 third-place votes, 11 fourth-place votes, and two fifth-place votes—his first time being named a finalist for the major award given to MLB’s best pitchers.
He arrived in Major League Baseball (MLS) at age 25, having won the Eiji Sawamura Award three times—the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young in NPB—and his impressive resume led the Dodgers to hand him a 12-year, $325 million contract—a record for an MLB pitcher—before he had even thrown a pitch.
In the 2025 season, Yamamoto posted a 12-8 record, a 2.49 ERA, 201 strikeouts, and just 59 walks in 173 ⅔ innings. Opponents batted just .183 against him—the lowest in MLB.
Still, it’s nearly impossible to beat Skenes this season, as Skenes has had a truly “historic” year. And while Sánchez has the same ERA (2.50), he’s pitched nearly 30 more innings — one of the key factors in his second-place finish.
Yamamoto has also been a huge part of the Dodgers’ lineup — he’s the only member of the pitching staff who hasn’t missed a start, and he’s taken over as the team’s “ace” when several teammates have been injured. While he didn’t win the Cy Young, he’s certainly a strong candidate and, if he continues to develop, could be in the running for the big leagues in the years to come.
The article also mentions his teammate Shohei Ohtani — who would make history if he wins the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for the Dodgers on Thursday.
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