{"id":87258,"date":"2025-09-03T00:16:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87258"},"modified":"2025-09-03T00:16:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T00:16:16","slug":"dodgers-must-confront-disappointing-roki-sasaki-reality-before-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=87258","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers Must Confront Disappointing Roki Sasaki Reality Before Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"RokiConsidering their status as the reigning World Series champions, we have to imagine that the\u00a0Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a>\u00a0always envisioned that\u00a0rookie pitcher<\/a>\u00a0Roki Sasaki would play a major role in any playoff run this fall.<\/p>\n

Instead, we won\u2019t be surprised if Sasaki doesn\u2019t even make the playoff roster. Not only has a shoulder injury kept the 23-year-old out since mid-May, but he\u2019s allowed eight runs (seven earned) and six walks over nine innings during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n

Sasaki\u2019s command issues come after he walked 22 hitters in his first 34 1\/3 big-league innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think for us, it\u2019s just trying to get some consistency out of him to build him up and also at this point in time, just to perform,\u201d Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this past weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur starters are pitching well, so the bar is high,\u201d\u00a0Roberts added<\/a>. \u201cThis is a good kind of learning process for Roki. Just continue to pound the strike zone, command the baseball, and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Dodgers cannot depend on Roki Sasaki in the playoffs<\/h2>\n

If Sasaki wanted pressure, he got it when he signed with the Dodgers in January. Although Sasaki was an accomplished two-time All-Star with the NPB\u2019s Chiba Lotte Marines, none of that necessarily mattered from the second that he committed to joining the reigning World Series champions.<\/p>\n

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The Dodgers are a title-or-bust team, and anything short of a third championship in six years is considered a failure. There\u2019s no reason, then, for Roberts to trust Sasaki with the ball in the postseason.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, Sasaki is a 23-year-old rookie who can\u2019t hit the strike zone. If not for the hype he arrived stateside with, then keeping him off the playoff roster would be an easy call for both Roberts and Dodgers management,\u00a0regardless\u00a0<\/em>of how talented Sasaki might be.<\/p>\n

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R\u014dki Sasaki, 98mph Fastball and 87mph Dragon Fork, Individual Pitches + Overlay. pic.twitter.com\/2MqTEKXb1e<\/a><\/p>\n

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n