LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 11: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after retiring the side after Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres hit into a double play during the third inning in game five of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
In sports, stories of redemption are often the ones that pierce through our psyche and pull on our heartstrings. The game’s biggest moments always seem to find the person most deserving of redemption, call it baseball’s version of the circle of life.
Enter Yoshinobu Yamamoto from stage left, the Los Angeles Dodgers newest import who signed one of the richest contracts in baseball history in the offseason without even throwing a single big league pitch. The Dodgers invested $325 million in his electric right arm. They did it for games in October when the lights are the brightest and the moments are the biggest.
However, after a disastrous start in Game 1, that saw Yamamoto allow five runs in just three innings, many questioned if he should be trusted with the baseball in the most important game of the Dodgers season.
Equipped with the focus and intensity of a steady flame on a melting candle, and with every nerve in his body strained like a harp-string, Yamamoto delivered the pitching performance of a lifetime, and one that the Dodgers so desperately needed.
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Yamamoto threw five shutout innings, and Kiké and Teoscar Hernández both homered as the Dodgers defeated the rival San Diego Padres, 2-0, in a dramatic Game 5 of the National League Division Series on Friday night.
"He was outstanding tonight," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts of Yamamoto. "I knew he wasn't going to run from this spot. I'm looking forward to riding him through the World Series."
With the victory, the Dodgers advance to the National League Championship series against the New York Mets.
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"The job's not done and you will see the focus, the fire going forward, with the expectation to win eight more games," said Roberts looking ahead to the NLCS. "We're ready to play and we're ready to win four games against the Mets. I'm not thinking about anything else but our 26 guys and beating the Mets. That's it."
Maybe it was fate that the biggest moments found Yamamoto, or destiny that it was the Hernándezes that delivered, two players who have proven that they are built for October baseball: performing at their best when the pressure is at its peak.
"This guy right here [Teoscar] likes the big moment, too," said Kiké Hernández sitting next to a champagne-soaked Teoscar after the victory. "I'm glad we're both on the team. I'm glad we both have the same last name. I'm glad the accent goes over both A's. I told him before Game 4, it's never been done in the history of the game: two Hernándezes going deep in the same game in the playoffs. But it happened tonight."
Regardless of whether or not it was divine intervention, a twist of fate, or simply the magic of baseball, each and every moment of the decisive Game 5 was the kind of stuff you dream about as kids playing in the backyard. Dodgers vs. Padres, a budding rivalry between to division foes filled with respect, hatred, and uncoiled emotions.
“These types of games are the ones we’ve been dreaming about since we were little kids,” said Kiké Hernández of Game 5 between the Padres and Dodgers. “We didn’t come here to win the NL West; we came to win the World Series. We were not worried about anything else other than winning tonight.”
But before the Dodgers could come spilling out of the dugout, stumbling on the dirt as they smiled, screamed and hugged each other, there first had to be a beginning to this dream. And trust me, it was a start as much mired in drama and suspense as the finish was.
Hernandez helped the Dodgers fire the first shot when he jumped all over a first-pitch fastball from Yu Darvish with two outs in the second inning. It gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead, and in the series, the team that led after four innings ended up winning the game.
"I was looking for that pitch and that pitch only," said Hernández of his assault on Darvish's first-pitch fastball. "And he gave it to me, and I didn't miss it."
Kiké Hernández clubs his 14th career #Postseason homer! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/ZJQsNYiJ6S
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Yamamoto was aware of that statistic as well, so he set the tone early with a 1-2-3 first inning.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto strikes out Fernando Tatis Jr. to get the @Dodgers crowd BUMPING 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TTlTcwfqNu
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
"He set the tone," said Roberts of Yamamoto's first inning. "I think that Yoshi's had a lot of success in his professional career. I said it before; he's pitched in big ball games. And I believed in him. I knew he was going to rise to the occasion."
The pitching matchup in Game 5 between Yamamoto and Darvish was the first between two Japanese-born starting pitchers in MLB postseason history, so it was only fitting that they each dazzled in what turned out to be a good ol’ fashioned pitcher's duel between the two countrymen.
"Yoshi [Yoshinobu], Darvish, these guys that are from out of the country, they're pitching on a bigger scale," said Roberts who was born in Japan himself to a Japanese mother. "They are pitching for their country. When you pitch for the WBC, for the country of Japan, those are the highest stakes that you can have. They both have done that and pitched well in those moments. I have to give Yu a lot of credit for what he did tonight."
Yamamoto fired five scoreless innings, allowing just two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
"I think in Japan, like a lot of fans were looking forward to today's match-up because this is the first time that two Japanese pitchers are facing off on the same game on the postseason," said Yamamoto, through a translator, of the matchup and his performance. "I was just trying to be aggressive and then get initiative. I think my mechanics were locked in today."
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is through five innings of shutout ball! #NLDS pic.twitter.com/JvLAbHQJ2G
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Darvish delivered 6.2 innings, with one walk and four strikeouts, but he allowed two solo home runs that proved to be the difference in the game.
"I would take that start from Yu every time," said San Diego's manager Mike Shildt. "I thought Yu was magnificent again. Had them off balance. Couple of swings got him. Other than that, he was really good."
Yu Darvish takes round 1 against Shohei Ohtani. #NLDS pic.twitter.com/mbzuun8YEI
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
The second of those swings, which provided the Dodgers with a much-needed insurance run, came off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"I try not to run away from the big moments," said Teoscar Hernández of his 7th inning homer. "I learned how to control my mind, my emotions in those big situations, and I try not to do too much and just do the things that I know how to do, which is just try to get a good pitch and put it in play. I know if I hit the ball, it's going to have a big chance that it's going to go in a positive way."
TEOSCAR HERNÁNDEZ
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
SEE
YOU
LATER 😤 #NLDS pic.twitter.com/BQbrAnlUJ9
“I was just trying to get on base, he was pitching really good, he was dotting a lot of pitches on the corners, I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” Hernandez told FOX during the game. “This is why I signed here. I’ve never seen the stadium as loud as this.”
The MVP of Game 4; the Dodgers bullpen, did the rest, sending the 53,183 blue-towel waving fans into a frenzy with four shutout innings to secure the victory.
102 MPH GAS 🔥
— MLB (@MLB) October 12, 2024
Michael Kopech is throwing flames! pic.twitter.com/GuY1YuurCK
After allowing six runs in a sloppy second inning in Game 3 of the series, the Dodgers pitching staff combined for 24 scoreless innings against San Diego.
"I think stunning is appropriate," said Shildt of his offense getting shut out for 24 consecutive innings. "You've got to tip you hat, and while we're doing it, congratulations to the Dodgers."
Roberts said the bullpen was the MVP of the series.
"You can have whatever plan or script, but it comes down to the players," said Roberts of his pitching staff over the last three games of the series. "From Yoshi [Yoshinobu] today to the bullpen, if you're talking about a series MVP, it's out bullpen, clearly."
Whether it was the bullpen, the Hernándezes, or the team as a whole, the Dodgers redemption arc was completed against the Padres in Game 5.
Los Angeles swept San Diego in the 2020 NLDS, but the Padres bested the Boys in Blue in four games in 2022.
On Wednesday, it was the Dodgers who saved their best for the end of the third act of the trilogy, getting revenge on the Padres for their shocking defeat just two years prior.
"It's redemption. I wanted to beat those guys. We all wanted to beat those guys really bad," said Roberts who improved to 6-2 in winner-take-all elimination games as Dodgers' manager. "We're going to celebrate tonight."
Thanks to Roberts' excellent leadership over the course of the series, seemingly pushing all the right buttons in their comeback, the Dodgers celebrated on their own field, clinching a postseason series at Dodger Stadium for the first time since the 2013 NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.
Now, it's on to the "OMG" Mets, who are on a magical run of their own over the last couple weeks.
Game 1 of the best-of-seven NLCS is scheduled for Sunday, October 13th at 5:15PM PT on FOX.
