In 2019, when Gerrit Cole spurned his hometown Angels to sign with the New York Yankees, his agent did not mince words in explaining why.
“It really came down to a decision about world championship play,” agent Scott Boras said then. “He and [wife] Amy’s primary goal was to win a world championship. In the end, he had to make a very difficult decision, but in his mind, that pursuit of those world championships was something that was in the forefront of his final decision.”
The Yankees have the most championships of any major league team. In awarding Cole what was then the richest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, the Yankees outbid the Dodgers. And, in his fifth season with the Yankees, Cole is in the World Series.
Last year the Dodgers beat out the Yankees for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers guaranteed him $325 million, $1 million more than the Yankees committed to Cole.
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And, in his first season with the Dodgers, Yamamoto is two wins from a World Series championship.
On the night after Jack Flaherty pitched into the sixth inning, Yamamoto pitched into the seventh. He gave up one run, on one hit — a home run by Juan Soto.
The Dodgers’ starting pitching was supposed to be their weakest link.
Said Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen: “How about both our starters these last two nights? Everyone said that maybe we don’t have the starting arms to make a run at the World Series.
“What Jack did yesterday, and what Yamamoto did in his first World Series game? That’s really impressive. They’ve given us a great chance to have success in this Series.”
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In June, Yamamoto enjoyed his best start of the season, against these Yankees and in Yankee Stadium. He pitched seven innings, giving up no runs and two hits.
“I think we had three prime-time national games that weekend,” Dodgers reliever Daniel Hudson said, “and that was one of them, and he went out there and absolutely shoved for seven innings, kind of like he did tonight. It was almost like a little coming-out party for him.”
Yamamoto left his next start early because of a rotator cuff strain and did not return until September. He made 86 pitches Saturday, the most he has made since that Yankee Stadium start four months ago.
With a deep and talented bullpen, why did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts take that risk, particularly in letting Yamamoto face Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton for a third time?
“Watching how he was throwing the baseball,” Roberts said, “there wasn’t much stress in the game.”
Early on, there was. Yamamoto needed 21 pitches to escape the first inning, throwing at least three balls to each of the first three batters. Soto homered in the third, and Yamamoto was at 52 pitches through three innings.
In the bottom of the third, the Dodgers scored three times to take a 4-1 lead. The Yankees never got another man on base against Yamamoto, who retired his final 11 batters.
“The first few innings we took a lot of good at-bats against him, made him work some longer at-bats,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Then kind of once he got a little bit of that lead, he kind of got into a rhythm, really did a good job of attacking at Strike 1. It was hard to be patient with him when he was on the attack and getting ahead.”
If the Dodgers win two games in New York, Yamamoto’s next appearance would be in a parade. If the series returns to Los Angeles, Yamamoto is scheduled to start Game 6, which would give him the chance to either keep the Dodgers’ season alive or clinch a parade.
Either one would represent a tremendous return on investment for the Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani brought an interpreter with him from Japan, although the interpreter is now facing a prison term for stealing millions from Ohtani.
Yamamoto did not bring an interpreter. The Dodgers found one for him: Yoshihiro Sonoda, who does not have a Baseball Reference page but does have an IMDB page. Sonoda worked on “Men in Black” before he joined the Boys in Blue.
“We both came here and were rookies, in a sense,” Yamamoto last week. “Especially Mr. Sonoda, who came from a different industry.”
Sonoda said he shaved on the day of Yamamoto’s first start, a five-run, one-inning thrashing by the San Diego Padres in Seoul. Sonoda no longer shaves on the days Yamamoto starts.
“This was an incredible year for Mr. Sonoda,” Yamamoto said. “Now that we’ve come to the World Series, I’d like to make him cry at the end.”
Dodgers fans have waited 36 years for a parade. For Sonoda and all of Los Angeles, those would be tears of joy.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
