In 2019, when Gerrit Cole he despised his hometown Angels to sign with the New York Yankees, his agent didn’t mince words when explaining the reason.
“It really came down to a decision about the world championship,” agent Scott Boras said. he said then. “His and (his wife) Amy’s main goal was to win a world championship. In the end, he had to make a very difficult decision, but in his opinion, the pursuit of those world championships was something that was at the forefront of his final decision.”
The Yankees have the most championships of any Major League team. By giving Cole what was then the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, the Yankees outbid him. Dodgers. And, in his fifth season with the Yankees, Cole is in the World Series.
Last year the Dodgers beat the Yankees by Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers guaranteed him $325 million, $1 million more than the Yankees committed to Cole.
And, in his first season with the Dodgers, Yamamoto is two wins away from a World Series championship.
The next night Jack Flaherty inclined until the sixth inningYamamoto pitched until the seventh. He allowed one run and one hit: a home run by Juan Soto.
The Dodgers’ starting pitcher was supposed to be their weakest link.
The Dodgers reliever said Blake Treinen: “How about our two starters these last two nights? Everyone said that maybe we don’t have the starting arms to get to the World Series.
“What did Jack do yesterday and what did Yamamoto do in his first World Series game? That’s really impressive. “They have given us a great opportunity to be successful in this Series.”
In June, Yamamoto enjoyed his best start to the season, against these Yankees and at Yankee Stadium. He pitched seven innings, allowing no runs and two hits.
“I think we had three national games in prime time that weekend,” Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson said, “and that was one of them, and he went out and absolutely pushed for seven innings, kind of like he did tonight. “It was almost like a little coming-out party for him.”
Yamamoto left his next outing early due to a rotator cuff strain and did not return until September. He threw 86 pitches Saturday, the most since that start at Yankee Stadium four months ago.
With a deep and talented bullpen, why did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts take that risk, particularly in allowing Yamamoto to face Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for the third time?
“Watching how he threw the ball,” Roberts said, “there wasn’t a lot of stress in the game.”
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto receives a standing ovation from fans after coming out in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the World Series on Saturday.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
In the beginning there was. Yamamoto needed 21 pitches to escape the first inning, throwing at least three balls to each of the first three batters. Soto homered in the third and Yamamoto threw 52 pitches in three innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Dodgers scored three times to take a 4-1 lead. The Yankees never got another man on base against Yamamoto, who retired his final 11 batters.
“In the first innings we had a lot of good at-bats against him, which made him work some longer at-bats,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Then once he got a little bit of that lead, he got into a rhythm, he really did a good job attacking in Strike 1. It was hard to be patient with him when he was attacking and moving forward. .”
If the Dodgers win two games in New York, Yamamoto’s next appearance would be in a parade. If the series returns to Los Angeles, Yamamoto is scheduled to start Game 6, which would give him a chance to keep the Dodgers’ season alive or secure a parade.
Either one would represent a tremendous return on investment for the Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani brought with him an interpreter from Japan, although the interpreter is now faces a prison sentence for stealing millions from Ohtani.
Yamamoto did not bring an interpreter. The Dodgers found one for him: Yoshihiro Sonoda, who doesn’t have a baseball reference page but does have one. IMDB page. Sonoda worked on “Men in Black” before joining Boys in Blue.
“We both came here and were rookies, in a sense,” Yamamoto last week. “Especially Mr. Sonoda, who came from a different industry.”
Sonoda said he shaved the day of Yamamoto’s first start, a five-run, one-inning rout against the San Diego Padres in Seoul. Sonoda no longer shaves on the days Yamamoto starts.
“This was an incredible year for Mr. Sonoda,” Yamamoto said. “Now that we’re getting to the World Series, I’d like to make him cry at the end.”
Dodger fans have waited 36 years for a parade. For Sonoda and all of Los Angeles, those would be tears of joy.
