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The Dodgers deliberately kept Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tarik Skubal off the team flight to Denver for this week’s three-game series against the Rockies, per Dodger Blue. The move was a strategic decision — not injury-related — designed to keep both pitchers away from the altitude and unique conditions at Coors Field. The Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Rockies on Wednesday, making the strategy a clean success from a results standpoint.

Yamamoto has been a cornerstone of this rotation since arriving in Los Angeles. The former NPB ace signed his massive 12-year deal ahead of the 2024 season and has steadily established himself as one of the best pitchers in the National League. His last appearance came on August 14, and keeping him off the trip to Denver — where the thin air famously inflates offensive numbers and can mess with a pitcher’s feel for breaking stuff — is the kind of careful management the Dodgers have leaned into all season. For a pitcher the organization has invested so heavily in, avoiding unnecessary exposure to Coors makes a lot of sense.

Skubal, acquired ahead of this season in what was one of the biggest trades of the offseason, has been everything the Dodgers hoped for. The left-hander last pitched on August 16 and has been a legitimate ace-caliber arm in the rotation. His sweeper and four-seam combination play especially well in more traditional pitching environments, and keeping him out of the Denver altitude — where spin rates and movement can behave differently — is a smart play by the coaching staff. There’s no reason to risk disrupting his rhythm for a series where other arms can handle the load.

Roki Sasaki did make the trip and started the series finale on Wednesday, giving up two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over five innings. It was a solid outing and extended his streak of allowing two or fewer runs to six consecutive starts. Sasaki was previously reported to have been kept off the team flight as well, though he ultimately pitched in the series. His continued development and consistency have been one of the better stories of the second half.

This is the kind of thing that separates the Dodgers’ operation from most of the league. Not every team has the rotation depth to leave two front-line starters home and still sweep a series on the road. It’s also a reflection of how this front office thinks about the long game — we’re in late August, and the priority is having Yamamoto and Skubal fresh and sharp for October, not squeezing every possible regular-season start out of them. With Tyler Glasnow set to rejoin the rotation after completing his rehab stint, and Blake Snell and other arms available, the Dodgers can afford to be selective about when and where their top pitchers throw. I like this approach. Protect the arms that matter most when the environment is least favorable, and deploy the depth the organization has built. That’s how you set up a rotation for a deep postseason run.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: August 21, 2026 2:26 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers