Yoshinobu Yamamoto — 2026 Season

2026 Season Stats

Pitching stats and MLB-wide rank · 2026 Season

Stat	2026	MLB Rank
ERA	2.78	—
WHIP	.88	—
W	10	MLB #8
L	6	—
K	113	MLB #28
IP	119.2	—
SV	0	—
GS	18	—

2026 Season Highlights

As of 7/15, Yoshinobu Yamamoto remains a fixture in the Dodgers' starting rotation, delivering consistently strong outings. He continues to pile up wins while relying on a strikeout-heavy approach at key moments, cementing his status as a rotation anchor.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto enters 2026 as arguably the most complete pitcher on one of baseball's most storied rosters. After his injury-shortened 2024 debut (18 starts), he came back with a historic 2025 campaign: 30 starts, 2.49 ERA, 201 strikeouts, 0.99 WHIP — and then dominated the World Series with three outings and a 1.02 ERA to claim Series MVP honors, becoming only the second Japanese player to win the award. His pitching is built not on overpowering velocity (94–95mph fastball) but on an elite command profile (BB/9 under 1.9), four genuine weapons, and a corkscrew arm action that generates late movement and deception through release-point disguise. The splitter is the crown jewel — thrown in the 88–90mph range with sharp downward and arm-side movement, it becomes almost unhittable when paired with his four-seam fastball tunneling. In 2026, Yamamoto is refining the formula that already earned World Series glory: better late-inning durability, lower walk rates, and the kind of consistent sub-3.00 FIP that makes a legitimate Cy Young campaign possible. All 2026 stats are updated daily on this page.

1He has continued to make regular starts as a rotation mainstay this season, showing the composure to consistently work deep into games.
2A three-time consecutive Sawamura Award winner and four-time NPB ERA champion in Japan, he further proved his big-stage pedigree by winning World Series MVP in 2025 — becoming just the second Japanese player to do so — following his 2024 arrival with the Dodgers.
3The storyline to watch is how much further he can build on his win total and strikeout output as a rotation anchor going forward.

DETAIL · ANALYSIS

Detailed Analysis

In-depth metrics aggregated from every at-bat and pitch.

Data as of: 2026-07-19

Expand detailed analysis ▾

Recent Form (Last 10 Starts)

Older games on the left, most recent on the right. Color shows how they played.

Best: 6IP+ / ≤1ER · Good: 5IP+ / ≤2ER · OK: 4IP+ / ≤3ER · 4ER · ≥5ER (blowup)

Pitch Arsenal

Current season pitch data by type. Velocity, spin rate, movement, whiff rate, and CSW% at a glance.

Pitch	Usage	Velo (mph)	Spin	H-Mvmt	V-Mvmt	Whiff%	CSW%
Splitter	27.3%	91.5	1,461	-7.4"	+1.5"	29.9%	21.8%
Four-Seam Fastball	26.0%	96.1	2,248	-5.3"	+9.4"	21.0%	29.9%
Cutter	14.1%	91.4	2,452	+1.1"	+4.7"	20.2%	27.0%
Sinker	13.2%	95.4	2,301	-8.8"	+6.9"	13.9%	29.2%
Curveball	12.8%	77.1	2,824	+6.7"	-9.3"	21.4%	34.1%
Slider	6.5%	87.1	2,728	+2.2"	+1.5"	28.8%	34.2%

H-Mvmt/V-Mvmt (inch): movement vs. a spinless ball. + = toward 3B / up, − = toward 1B / down. Whiff% = whiffs / swings, CSW% = (called strikes + whiffs) / pitches.

Handedness & Home/Away Splits

Situational splits for the current season. See strengths and weaknesses by scenario.

vs Handedness

Split	OAVG	OOPS	HR	K	BB
vs RHB	.184	.553	6	61	13
vs LHB	.193	.557	7	52	12

Home / Away

Split	OAVG	OOPS	HR	K	BB
Home	.194	.600	8	63	16
Away	.182	.503	5	50	9

Year-over-Year Performance Trend

Career-long performance trends for every key stat. How does this year compare to history?

Season	G	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	K
2024	18	90.0	3.00	1.11	10.50	2.20	105
2025	30	173.2	2.49	0.99	10.42	3.06	201
2026Now	18	119.2	2.78	0.88	8.50	1.88	113

Full Game Log (Pitching)

All 18 games of the 2026 season. Showing latest 10; click to expand.

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
07/20	@ NYY	9.0	4	2	0	7	2.00
07/12	vs ARI	6.0	5	6	4	6	9.00
07/05	vs SD	7.0	3	0	2	10	0.00
06/28	@ SD	6.0	5	2	2	4	3.00
06/21	vs BAL	6.0	6	3	2	6	4.50
06/14	@ CWS	8.1	1	1	0	7	1.08
06/07	vs LAA	8.0	2	1	0	4	1.13
06/01	vs PHI	5.1	4	0	2	10	0.00
05/25	@ MIL	7.0	7	1	1	3	1.29
05/19	@ SD	7.0	3	1	2	8	1.29

SHOW REMAINING 8 GAMES ▾

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
05/13	vs SF	6.1	6	5	0	8	7.11
05/05	@ HOU	6.0	5	3	1	8	4.50
04/28	vs MIA	5.0	5	3	4	4	5.40
04/22	@ SF	7.0	6	3	2	7	3.86
04/15	vs NYM	7.2	4	1	1	7	1.17
04/08	@ TOR	6.0	5	1	1	6	1.50
04/02	vs CLE	6.0	4	2	1	2	3.00
03/27	vs ARI	6.0	5	2	0	6	3.00

Year-over-Year (2026 vs 2025)

Green = improvement, red = decline. "—" means no data in the same month last year.

Pitching

	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul
ERA	+0.30	+2.46	-0.16	-1.99	+0.57
K	-8	-3	+5	-5	-9
WHIP	-0.27	+0.08	+0.18	-0.76	-0.23

AI · SEASON ANALYSIS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto 2026 Season AI Analysis

Comprehensive 2026 season analysis generated by Claude AI from stats data (as of Jul 20, 2026).

Overview

Yamamoto's 2026 ERA of 2.78 sits comfortably between the MLB P75 (2.92) and P90 (2.54) marks, and his 0.88 WHIP is well inside the P90 threshold (1.01), placing him among the league's elite in run prevention and baserunner control. Across 18 starts and 119.2 IP, he is outperforming the average starter (ERA 3.59, WHIP 1.19) by a wide margin. The one soft spot is strikeout rate: 8.5 K/9 trails the MLB average (8.74) and P50 (8.84), a departure from the swing-and-miss profile he showed in prior seasons.

Strengths

Command is the standout trait this season. BB/9 of 1.88 nearly matches the P90 benchmark (1.83), reflecting tighter zone control than in 2024-25. WHIP has improved to 0.88, an elite figure regardless of era, driven by both the low walk rate and limited hard contact allowed. ERA (2.78) remains firmly in front-of-rotation territory, continuing the sub-3.00 form established in 2025 (2.49 ERA). The combination of low walks and low WHIP suggests he is pitching more efficiently, working ahead in counts and limiting traffic on the bases even as swing-and-miss numbers have softened.

Areas to Improve

Strikeout rate is the clear regression point. 8.5 K/9 in 2026 is down sharply from 10.5 (2024) and 10.42 (2025), and now sits below the MLB average and median starter. This marks the first season where his K rate is not a carrying strength relative to the league. If the trend continues, it could signal reduced fastball/splitter effectiveness at the top of the zone or a deliberate shift toward contact management, but either way it is worth monitoring since a lower strikeout rate typically raises variance in balls-in-play outcomes over a full season.

Looking Ahead

The gap between his still-strong ERA/WHIP and the declining strikeout rate is the key storyline for the rest of 2026. If K/9 stabilizes or rebounds toward his career norm, the current run-prevention numbers could improve further given his already excellent walk rate. If the strikeout dip persists, sustaining a sub-2.80 ERA will depend more heavily on batted-ball luck and defense, making his overall body of work slightly more fragile than the surface stats suggest. At his current pace (119.2 IP through 18 starts), health and workload management remain the other variable to watch for a full, uninterrupted season.

AI-generated content (Claude) · Based on stats as of Jul 20, 2026

Detailed Analysis

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Season Analysis

Season Progress

ERA

↓ Lower is better

WHIP

↓ Lower is better

Strikeouts

Wins

Monthly Stats

ERA

vs MLB Monthly Avg↓ Lower is better

WHIP

vs MLB Monthly Avg↓ Lower is better

Strikeouts

Wins

Season Analysis

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Splits vs LHP / RHP

Season stats vs right-handed and left-handed batters

vs RHP/RHB

.184OPS .553 / HR 6

vs LHP/LHB

.193OPS .557 / HR 7

Metrics Deep Dive

MLB-wide percentile rank, defensive and pitching metric summaries, pitch-type stats, and batted-ball distribution.

Pitching — MLB-wide Standing

WHIP and ERA rank in the top 23% of MLB. strikeouts also ranks in the top 45%, with no clear weak spot.

ERA2.78

WHIP0.88

strikeouts113

K/98.50

Bars show percentile rank among MLB-wide qualified players.

2026 Pitching Metrics Summary (FIP / WHIP / K/9)

FIP

3.33

MLB average ≈ 4.00 · lower is better

WHIP

0.88

MLB average ≈ 1.30 · lower is better

Strikeouts per 9 (K/9)

8.50

MLB average ≈ 8.5 · higher is better

Verify at the source:Baseball Savant FanGraphs

Source: MLB Stats API pitching stats (2026 season) · FIP calculated on-site (cFIP 3.10)

PITCHER · FIP

What is Yoshinobu Yamamoto's FIP? 3.33 in 2026

FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) measures a pitcher's true skill using only home runs, walks, hit-by-pitches and strikeouts — outcomes the pitcher controls. By stripping out defense and luck, it tracks real ability more closely than ERA.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's 2026 FIP is 3.33, rated as "top-of-rotation". That's 0.67 below the MLB average of about 4.00 — better than league-average run prevention.

Compare with other Japanese pitchers in the FIP ranking

Pitch Type K% & BA Against

K% / BA-against / Whiff% by pitch type this season. K% is based on at-bats where each type was the strikeout pitch.

Pitch	Usage	K%	BAA	Whiff%
Splitter	27.3%	26.6%	.211	29.9%
Four-Seam Fastball	26.0%	28.3%	.238	21.0%
Cutter	14.1%	23.5%	.333	20.2%
Sinker	13.2%	24.3%	.208	13.9%
Curveball	12.8%	18.4%	.368	21.4%
Slider	6.5%	21.1%	.310	28.8%

K%: rate of strikeouts among plate appearances where this pitch type was the final pitch. Whiff%: whiffs per swing. Types with fewer than 10 pitches excluded.

Splits by Batter Handedness

BA / OPS against and WHIP vs right-handed and left-handed batters this season. Spot weaknesses by batter type.

Split	BAA	OPS	WHIP	K	IP
vs RHB	.184	.553	0.89	61	57.0
vs LHB	.193	.557	0.87	52	62.0

Game Log

2026 Season Appearance Log

18 starts · 113 total strikeouts

Season Best K

10K

Sun, Jul 5 vs SD

Season Debut

Fri, Mar 27 vs ARI

6.0IP · 6K

Date	Opp	IP	K	HR	BB	Dec
7/20	@NYY	9.0	7	1	0	W
7/12	vsARI	6.0	6	1	4	L
7/5	vsSD	7.0	10	-	2	W
6/28	@SD	6.0	4	1	2	W
6/21	vsBAL	6.0	6	-	2	L
6/14	@CWS	8.1	7	1	0	W
6/7	vsLAA	8.0	4	-	0	W
6/1	vsPHI	5.1	10	-	2	W
5/25	@MIL	7.0	3	-	1	W
5/19	@SD	7.0	8	1	2	L
5/13	vsSF	6.1	8	3	0	L
5/5	@HOU	6.0	8	1	1	W
4/28	vsMIA	5.0	4	1	4	-
4/22	@SF	7.0	7	-	2	L
4/15	vsNYM	7.2	7	1	1	-
4/8	@TOR	6.0	6	-	1	W
4/2	vsCLE	6.0	2	1	1	L
3/27	vsARI	6.0	6	1	0	W