Dodgers pitchers and catchers have their first official workout at Camelback Ranch on Friday, so let’s look at the starting rotation for Los Angeles, the team’s greatest strength.
40-man roster starting pitchers
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto
- Blake Snell
- Tyler Glasnow
- Shohei Ohtani
- Emmet Sheehan
- Roki Sasaki
- Gavin Stone
- River Ryan
- Ben Casparius
- Justin Wrobleski
- Landon Knack
Things to watch
Ohtani unleashed: For the better part of the last two seasons, Shohei Ohtani wasn’t a two-way player while recovering from a second Tommy John surgery. He returned to the mound in June, with a methodical ramp up and didn’t pitch five innings in a start until August 27. Beginning with that start, Ohtani had a 2.48 ERA in eight starts, including the postseason, with 55 strikeouts and 11 walks in 40 innings. After totaling 67 1/3 innings on the year, Ohtani will be back to full two-way status from the start of the season in 2026, the same as he was from 2021-23 with the Angels, when he averaged 25 starts and 143 innings. Expect the Dodgers to be somewhat judicious when it comes to planning out his pitching starts, including some maneuvering when possible to pitch on the day before a scheduled off day to minimize situations with next-day fatigue while batting.
“The fun part about Sho is, as long as he knows when he’s pitching, he’ll pitch whenever, if it’s six days rest, if it’s eight days rest, if it’s three days rest, he’s willing to do what it takes to help this club win ballgames,” Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior said on the Dodgers Territory podcast last week. “We’ll just kind of plan it out and kind of go day by day like we always do, when were in these unorthodox situations where you can’t just map out the next four weeks.”
What to expect from Sasaki: Roki Sasaki last year was the most sought-after international free agent since Ohtani, but his first year fizzled with the Dodgers, thanks to an ineffective fastball and poor command. After some tweaks while sidelined on the injured list, Sasaki found some success in the bullpen down the stretch and into October. Still just 24 years old, Sasaki still has plenty of promise. But it will be interesting to see if he can find success while starting, and whether the Dodgers resist the urge to move him to the bullpen if things go awry.
Looking to October: The Dodgers managed to have their four best starting pitchers all healthy and thriving by last September, and rode them to a championship in October. The Dodgers didn’t necessarily plan it this way — there’s no real way to do such a thing — but they were extra cautious with some injured list stints. Blake Snell was down for four and a half months with shoulder inflammation. Tyler Glasnow missed just over 10 weeks with shoulder inflammation. Sasaki was on the shelf for five months. The team is willing to sacrifice some time during the regular season in service of potentially strengthening the cause in the postseason, and they have the depth to fill in the gaps. Remember, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May were second and third in innings last regular season for the Dodgers. There will be plenty of starts to go around outside of the current top six in the rotation in 2026.
The Sheehan template: Emmet Sheehan is one of those top six starters on the depth chart, and his excellent 2025 season provides hope for a few other arms this year who are in the same boat Sheehan was last year. Coming off a hybrid Tommy John and internal brace surgery in May 2024, Sheehan had a 2.82 ERA and 3.00 xERA in his 15 games, with 89 strikeouts (a 30.6-percent strikeout rate) and 22 walks in 73 1/3 innings. That’s the best-case scenario for River Ryan and Gavin Stone, who each saw their 2024 seasons end with surgery (Tommy John for Ryan, shoulder for Stone) and did not pitch in 2025. Stone led the Dodgers in starts and innings in 2024 before the surgery, and Ryan impressed in his four starts that year but has yet to get an extended major league chance. This year could be the time.
Hybrids: Ben Casparius and Justin Wrobleski were both drafted by the Dodgers in 2021, and both have seen extended time in the majors the last season and a half. Most of the work for Casparius has been out of the bullpen, while Wrobleski has started or pitched extended relief a little more often but also worked as a short reliever when needed. Both could be in the mix for roster spots even if in the bullpen this year, but you figure both will be stretched out during spring training to at least have them available to start early on in the season if a need arises.