Dodgers Appear in Line to Land Another Japanese Star This Winter

Jason Fray | Mar 31, 2024

The Dodgers have arguably the richest tradition of Japanese players compared to another Major League franchise. From Hideo Nomo to Kaz Ishii, Hiroki Kuroda, Kenta Maeda, Yu Darvish, and Takashi Saito, to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani, there’s not another ball club capable of boosting that level of star power from the Asian country.

The city of Los Angeles has a large Japanese population. When attending Dodger Stadium in 2024, you see a plethora of advertisements in Japanese scattered throughout the ballpark. Heck, even the cuisine has been overhauled to feature sushi boxes, flavored sake and takoyaki.

Suffice it to say, the marriage between the Dodgers and the country of Japan itself is quite strong. Based on a report from Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports, it could get even stronger next season.

Starlet pitcher Roki Sasaki – considered the best pitcher in the world playing outside of the United States – could also be joining his fellow countrymen Yamamoto and Ohtani in Los Angeles.

“Every team in baseball wants this guy, but there’s no way he’s going anywhere else but the Dodgers. We all know it."

Nightengale also reported this quote from an unnamed MLB general manager.

“Every team in baseball wants this guy," one GM told USA TODAY Sports, “but there’s no way he’s going anywhere else but the Dodgers. We all know it." 

If the Dodgers can sign him in the offseason, it furthers the narrative that this ball club will do whatever it takes to win at the highest level. The thought of having Sasaki, Yamamoto, Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Bobby Miller and perhaps even Walker Buehler all in the same rotation is mind-boggling. That’s not even taking into account Gavin Stone, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin or – perhaps – Clayton Kershaw.