Roki Sasaki walked into the 2026 All-Star break with a 5.33 ERA and at least three runs allowed in each of his last five starts before the break. Since returning to the mound on July 17, he has thrown 30 innings with a 2.10 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP — numbers that rank him among the best starters in the second half across all of MLB. The problem, if you can even call it that, is that the Dodgers never planned on needing him this much.
From the Brink to the Best Stretch of His MLB Career
The night of July 17 at Yankee Stadium was the turning point. Sasaki allowed just one unearned run in 5.2 innings, and since that outing, the version of him that gave up three or more runs in five straight starts has simply vanished. Over his last four outings, his xERA — the ERA his quality of contact suggests he should have — sits at 2.57, nearly identical to Yoshinobu Yamamoto‘s in the same span (2.72).
The key to the turnaround is pitch mix. Sasaki ramped up his splitter usage to as high as 47% in some starts — nearly double his season average of around 26% — while pulling back on the fastball. The results: a 27.7% strikeout rate and a 35.7% whiff rate over the last month, two numbers that explain why opposing hitters have had almost nothing to work with.
Coors Field, a Delayed Flight, and Seven More Strikeouts
On August 19 — the same day that 30-inning stretch was making the rounds on social media — Sasaki added another line to the ledger: seven strikeouts in five innings against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, one of the most pitcher-hostile environments in baseball thanks to Denver’s altitude.
The Dodgers’ medical staff made a preventive call and delayed Sasaki’s flight to Colorado by two days to limit his exposure to the altitude before he took the ball. Dave Roberts explained the decision publicly, and it worked. Los Angeles had already won the first two games of the series 11-5 and 7-6, and Sasaki took the mound looking for the sweep — which says everything about how much trust the organization has placed in him over the last few weeks.
His full-season line still carries the weight of that rough first half — a 4.46 ERA in 111 innings with a 5-5 record — but the post-break version looks like the ace Los Angeles envisioned when they signed him.
The October Rotation Puzzle Nobody Expected
A month ago, Sasaki was the most likely candidate to get bumped from the postseason rotation. The Dodgers added Tarik Skubal — a two-time AL Cy Young Award winner — at the trade deadline to a staff that already included Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani working his way back. There simply isn’t room for everyone.
Sasaki’s run complicates that math in a way the team didn’t see coming. With a 2.57 xERA and a whiff rate north of 35% over his last four starts, it’s no longer easy to argue he should be left out. What looked like an obvious decision four weeks ago is now one of the most interesting rotation debates heading into October.
The Dodgers (76-51, first in the NL West) have a luxury problem — and Roki Sasaki is the reason.
