A Spring to Forget, A Season to Prove: Roki Sasaki’s 2026 Begins Now

Spring Training is where optimism blooms, clichés multiply, and everyone insists the numbers don’t matter. But if there was one pitcher determined to challenge that philosophy in March, it’s Roki Sasaki.

The Dodgers’ 22‑year‑old phenom didn’t just have a bumpy spring — he had the kind of spring that makes pitching coaches stare into the middle distance and reconsider their life choices. Across four starts, Sasaki posted a 15.58 ERA, a 2.769 WHIP, and walked nearly as many hitters as he faced. The raw line reads like a typo, but unfortunately for everyone involved, it is not.

A Stat Line Only a Mother (or a Very Patient Manager) Could Love

Sasaki’s full Spring Training ledger:

• 4 games, 4 starts

• 1–0 record (because baseball is chaos)

• 15.58 ERA

• 8.2 innings pitched

• 9 hits allowed

• 15 runs (all earned)

• 2 home runs allowed

• 15 walks

• 12 strikeouts

• 2.769 WHIP

• SO/BB: 0.80

• Opponent Quality: 8.2 (AAA/MLB mix)

  
  

The headline issue wasn’t hard contact. It wasn’t fatigue. It wasn’t even pitch shape. It was command, full stop. Fifteen walks in 8.2 innings is the kind of ratio that makes even the most optimistic analyst quietly close their laptop.

Dodgers beat writers described his outings as “uneven,” “inconsistent,” and occasionally “one inning away from a wellness check.” Blowup frames became a theme — a walk, another walk, a pitch that misses by a zip code, and suddenly the inning is on fire.

So… Should Anyone Be Worried?

Here’s the twist: the Dodgers aren’t. Dave Roberts didn’t blink. Sasaki is still locked into the Opening Day rotation, and the organization continues to treat the spring struggles as growing pains, not red flags.

Why?

Because the stuff is still there. The velocity didn’t dip. The splitter still dives like it’s trying to escape the Earth’s gravitational pull. The breaking ball still flashes. What didn’t show up was the feel — and feel is the last thing to arrive for pitchers adjusting to a new league, new baseball, new routines, new everything.

Spring Training is littered with elite arms who looked lost in March and dominant by May. The Dodgers are betting Sasaki is simply the next entry in that long, comforting tradition.

The Bottom Line

Roki Sasaki’s spring in Dodger blue was messy, loud, and occasionally alarming. But it was also just that — spring. The Dodgers didn’t sign him for March. They signed him for the next decade.

If he finds his rhythm, no one will remember these numbers. If he doesn’t… well, we’ll always have the 15.58 ERA to look back on.