Yoshinobu Yamamoto — 2026 Season

2026 Season Stats

Pitching stats and MLB-wide rank · 2026 Season

Stat	2026	MLB Rank
ERA	2.67	—
WHIP	.90	—
W	12	MLB #15
L	8	—
K	161	MLB #23
IP	165.0	—
SV	0	—
GS	25	—

2026 Season Highlights

As of September 1, Yoshinobu Yamamoto remains a steady fixture in the Dodgers' starting rotation. He has continued to pitch effectively, racking up strikeouts while limiting runs. He stands out as one of the more reliable arms on the Dodgers' pitching staff this season.

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.

1As of September 1, Yamamoto remains a fixture in the starting rotation, delivering consistently strong outings.
2He built a decorated career in Japan with multiple Sawamura Awards and ERA titles, and capped it with a World Series MVP performance in 2025, proving his ability to shine on the biggest stage.
3He is expected to keep anchoring the rotation down the stretch, making his outings worth watching as the season winds down.

DETAIL · ANALYSIS

Detailed Analysis

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

Data as of: 2026-09-06

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%
Four-Seam Fastball	26.8%	96.1	2,247	-5.3"	+9.3"	22.4%	31.7%
Splitter	26.7%	91.5	1,448	-7.3"	+1.4"	30.7%	21.6%
Cutter	15.1%	91.6	2,446	+1.0"	+4.7"	20.4%	27.1%
Sinker	12.8%	95.4	2,305	-8.8"	+6.8"	14.2%	28.5%
Curveball	12.5%	77.0	2,812	+6.7"	-9.4"	23.0%	37.5%
Slider	6.1%	87.0	2,729	+2.3"	+1.4"	28.4%	30.5%

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	.196	.594	9	74	18
vs LHB	.179	.530	9	87	20

Home / Away

Split	OAVG	OOPS	HR	K	BB
Home	.192	.607	12	92	22
Away	.182	.502	6	69	16

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	25	165.0	2.67	0.90	8.78	2.07	161

Full Game Log (Pitching)

All 25 games of the 2026 season. Showing latest 10; click to expand.

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
09/03	vs STL	7.0	5	4	2	8	5.14
08/28	@ ATL	6.1	4	1	1	8	1.42
08/22	vs PIT	6.1	5	2	1	9	2.84
08/15	vs MIL	6.0	4	1	2	9	1.50
08/09	@ ARI	5.2	3	0	3	6	0.00
08/02	vs BOS	8.0	4	3	1	3	3.38
07/26	@ NYM	6.0	5	1	3	5	1.50
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

SHOW REMAINING 15 GAMES ▾

Date	Opp	IP	H	ER	BB	K	ER/9
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
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	Aug	Sep
ERA	+0.30	+2.46	-0.16	-1.99	+0.19	-1.61	+4.47
K	-8	-3	+5	-5	-4	+1	-26
WHIP	-0.27	+0.08	+0.18	-0.76	-0.12	-0.18	+0.33

AI · SEASON ANALYSIS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto 2026 Season AI Analysis

Comprehensive 2026 season analysis generated by Claude AI from stats data (as of Sep 7, 2026).

Overview

Yamamoto's 2026 season places him among the league's top-tier starters, though not at its very peak. His 2.67 ERA sits between the P75 (3.04) and P90 (2.55) marks, roughly top-15-to-20% territory. His 0.90 WHIP is his standout marker, beating the P90 threshold (1.03) outright. Strikeout rate (8.78 K/9) is closer to league-average (8.73) than to elite (P75 9.96), while his walk rate (2.07 BB/9) sits just outside the P90 band (2.01). Overall: a command-and-efficiency profile rather than a swing-and-miss ace, delivering results near the top of the league.

Strengths

The clearest strength is his WHIP, which has improved to 0.90 — better than the league's P90 threshold and his best mark across his three MLB seasons. Walk rate has also tightened to 2.07 BB/9 from 3.86 in his rookie 2024 campaign, reflecting sharper zone command. His ERA of 2.67 remains well below league average and consistent with his 2024-2025 track record (3.00, 2.49), showing he has sustained run prevention across three straight seasons. Durability has also scaled up, from 90 IP in his debut year to 165 IP through 25 starts in 2026, suggesting improved workload tolerance without a corresponding drop in effectiveness.

Areas to Improve

The main area lagging his own prior form is strikeout rate. His K/9 has dropped to 8.78, down from 10.5 in 2024 and 10.42 in 2025 — a meaningful decline of roughly 1.6-1.7 K/9. Relative to the league, 8.78 K/9 is barely above the MLB average (8.73) and well short of the P75 mark (9.96), meaning he no longer profiles as a plus strikeout arm compared to his debut seasons. This suggests he is generating outs more through contact management and command than through swing-and-miss stuff, which could leave him more exposed to variance in balls in play than his ERA alone indicates.

Looking Ahead

If the current trajectory holds, Yamamoto is on pace for a full season in the 195-200 IP range with an ERA in the mid-2s, consistent with a top-of-rotation profile. The key variable to watch is whether the strikeout rate stabilizes near 8.78 or continues trending toward league-average, as that will determine how much his run prevention still depends on batted-ball luck versus repeatable skill. His near-elite WHIP and walk rate give him a solid floor even if strikeouts don't rebound, but a K/9 uptick in the second half would meaningfully strengthen his case as an elite (not just very good) starter for the balance of the season.

AI-generated content (Claude) · Based on stats as of Sep 7, 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

Loading season chart…

Splits vs LHP / RHP

Season stats vs right-handed and left-handed batters

vs RHP/RHB

.196OPS .594 / HR 9

vs LHP/LHB

.179OPS .530 / HR 9

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 14% of MLB. strikeouts and K/9 also rank in the top 45%, with no clear weak spot.

ERA2.67

WHIP0.90

strikeouts161

K/98.78

Bars show percentile rank among MLB-wide qualified players.

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

FIP

3.37

MLB average ≈ 4.00 · lower is better

WHIP

0.90

MLB average ≈ 1.30 · lower is better

Strikeouts per 9 (K/9)

8.78

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? 3.37 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 3.37, rated as "top-of-rotation". That's 0.63 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%
Four-Seam Fastball	26.8%	30.6%	.214	22.4%
Splitter	26.7%	25.5%	.252	30.7%
Cutter	15.1%	21.1%	.292	20.4%
Sinker	12.8%	24.7%	.234	14.2%
Curveball	12.5%	22.6%	.356	23.0%
Slider	6.1%	23.1%	.289	28.4%

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	.196	.594	0.96	74	75.0
vs LHB	.179	.530	0.85	87	89.0

Game Log

2026 Season Appearance Log

25 starts · 161 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
9/3	vsSTL	7.0	8	2	2	-
8/28	@ATL	6.1	8	1	1	L
8/22	vsPIT	6.1	9	-	1	-
8/15	vsMIL	6.0	9	-	2	W
8/9	@ARI	5.2	6	-	3	-
8/2	vsBOS	8.0	3	2	1	L
7/26	@NYM	6.0	5	-	3	W
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