Yoshinobu Yamamoto Named Dodgers' 2026 MLB Opening Day Starter After 2025 World Series MVP Award

The hero of the 2025 World Series will look to get the 2026 season started on the right foot for the back-to-back reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Per Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Monday that 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be the team's starting pitcher for Opening Day against the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 26.

Yamamoto earned a win in all three of his appearances during the epic seven-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays, including pitching the final 2.2 innings in Game 7 to secure the Dodgers' second straight World Series title.

Ardaya noted that Yamamoto will join Scott McGregor for the 1984 Baltimore Orioles, Josh Beckett for the 2004 Florida Marlins, Madison Bumgarner for the 2015 San Francisco Giants and Chris Sale for the 2019 Boston Red Sox as pitchers who ended one season and started the next.

Yamamoto has been away from the Dodgers for most of spring training while pitching for Japan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic. Still, he's expected to continue his rise this season and potentially become the first Japanese pitcher ever to win a Cy Young Award.

"He wants to be great," Roberts said last month. "He wants to win a Cy Young. He hasn't done that yet, so that's a carrot. But I think he prides himself on being consistent and being really good. Every time he takes the ball, he expects to win, we expect to win, and then you sort of look back at the season and see where you're at."