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Roki Sasaki turned in a dominant performance as the Dodgers routed the Brewers, per MLB.com staff. The young right-hander displayed a level of confidence we haven’t consistently seen from him since he arrived in Los Angeles, and the results spoke for themselves in a lopsided victory.

Sasaki came to the Dodgers as one of the most hyped international signings in recent memory, having already established himself as a star with the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan’s NPB. His fastball sits in the upper 90s and touches triple digits, and his splitter is one of the nastiest pitches in professional baseball — the same pitch that helped him throw a perfect game in Japan in 2022. But his transition to MLB hasn’t been entirely smooth. There have been stretches where he’s looked like he was still finding his footing against major league lineups, adjusting to a new country, a new league, and the relentless grind of a 162-game schedule. This outing against Milwaukee felt different. There was an aggression and a command of the zone that suggested Sasaki is settling in — not just surviving starts, but attacking hitters with intent.

The Brewers, to their credit, are no pushover lineup. Milwaukee has been competitive all season and can punish mistakes. For Sasaki to go out and dismantle them the way he did says something about where he is mentally right now. The “newfound confidence” framing isn’t just media spin — you can see it in his body language on the mound, the way he’s going after hitters instead of nibbling around the edges.

For the Dodgers, this is exactly what they need, especially given the pitching injuries that have been piling up. We’ve talked about how Dave Roberts and the staff are trying to navigate a rotation that’s been thinned out, and Sasaki stepping up as a reliable arm changes the calculus significantly. He’s not just a project or a future asset anymore — he’s pitching like a guy who belongs in the middle of a contender’s rotation right now.

I’ll say this plainly: if this version of Sasaki is the one we get going forward, the Dodgers’ pitching picture looks a lot less dire than it did a week ago. The stuff was always there. The confidence was the missing piece, and it looks like he’s found it. A big, statement-type game against a quality opponent — that’s the kind of outing that can change a pitcher’s entire trajectory for a season.

Source(s): Staff (MLB.com) | First reported: May 24, 2026 2:51 AM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers