After he was named the World Series MVP that night, I asked a couple of Japanese journalists how they would pronounce \u201cBulldog\u201d in their language, given that this was a Hershiser-ian postseason performance.<\/p>\n
![\"Dodgers](\"https:\/\/www.pressenterprise.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26152015405793.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cBurudoggu,\u201d was their response. Sounds like \u201cBulldog,\u201d so fair enough. Excellence sounds the same in any language.<\/p>\n
And right now, in 2026, with almost half of the pitching staff on the injured list and projected starters Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell unavailable, the guy who can take his turn regularly and give you a competitive outing each time out \u2013 even when he doesn\u2019t have his Grade A stuff \u2013 is more important than ever.<\/p>\n
There was a gentle discussion in the interview room before Sunday\u2019s game, a 9-1 Dodgers victory over the Phillies in which Yamamoto pitched 5\u2153 shutout innings: Would he be considered the ace, or might it be Shohei Ohtani?<\/p>\n
Yes, the Unicorn has a 5-2 record and a 0.82 ERA in his nine starts, with 61 strikeouts and 17 walks in his first full season as a pitcher since 2022. And he also carries the burden of two full-time jobs.<\/p>\n
Part of the ace\u2019s job is to stop losing streaks, even tiny ones, in their tracks. After Saturday night\u2019s 4-3 loss to the Phillies \u2013 a defeat that happened in large part because reliever Tanner Scott reverted to some old, bad habits in surrendering a 3-1 lead in the eighth \u2013 Yamamoto understood Sunday\u2019s assignment.<\/p>\n
He blanked the Phils on four hits and 104 pitches, striking out 10, even as he struggled with his command and ratcheted up the pitch count (33 after two innings). He battled, he navigated his way through a tough lineup, and was particularly stubborn \u2013 bulldog-ish? \u2013 in the fifth, with men on first and third and the top of the Phillies lineup \u2013 Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner \u2013 awaiting.<\/p>\n
Schwarber went down swinging on a 97.5 mph four-seamer. Turner took a 95.9 mph sinker for strike three, and when he challenged it, plate umpire Sean Barber\u2019s call was upheld.<\/p>\n
That, as it turned out, was a rarity. The umpire had one of those Really Bad Days, with six calls overturned in the first four innings before he finally had one upheld, and eight of 10 overturned all told. (This, of course, is the unintended consequence of the ABS challenge system, an umpire subject to public humiliation thanks to the gentle tapping of the helmet.)<\/p>\n
But those challenges helped Yamamoto, too. Catcher Dalton Rushing challenged two calls in the first inning, a 2-and-2 pitch to Schwarber that Barber called a ball, and a 3-and-2 pitch to Bryce Harper that Barber also called a ball. When both were overturned, maybe that settled Yamamoto down somewhat.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that was a good challenge, because I believe I was hitting my spots,\u201d Yamamoto said through his interpreter.<\/p>\n
Rushing said he\u2019s been working on recognizing when to challenge and when not to, and getting it right twice and helping his pitcher was quite satisfying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe command was a little touchy in the first compared to where he\u2019s usually at,\u201d Rushing said. \u201cAnd just to be kind of able to kinda, quote unquote, save him a little bit with those two challenges felt great. And I think it allowed him to settle in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe this is another characteristic of an ace: To be able to succeed without your best stuff, or without your normal command.<\/p>\n
After Yamamoto struck out Brandon Marsh with his 104th pitch of the game for the first out of the sixth inning, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts came out to get him, two outs shy of what would have been his ninth quality start in 11 outings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to push him too much further,\u201d Roberts said. \u201c\u2026 He could have probably found a way to get through that sixth inning, but I just felt, you know, to what cost? But yeah, it just speaks to these guys. The good ones, the really good ones, know how to get major league hitters out when they don\u2019t have their best stuff. And for the most part, you don\u2019t always have your \u2018A\u2019 stuff every outing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before the game, building on that conversation mentioned above, I asked Roberts what the main characteristics of an ace would be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe beats good teams,\u201d he said. \u201cHe manages stress, can limit damage. He can take a punch early and keep going. You can essentially bank length in a game. Yeah, those are kind of some of the qualities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside maybe from the length, we saw it Sunday. Yamamoto is now 5-4, his ERA is 2.86, and he has 69 strikeouts, 15 walks and a 1.00 WHIP in 69\u2153 innings. (And, additionally, in all four of his losses the Dodgers had scored two runs or fewer. Sunday, in contrast, they had a 6-0 lead by the time he left the game.<\/p>\n
So, I asked Rushing, is he the ace?<\/p>\n
\u201cTake your pick,\u201d he responded. \u201cLook in the room and you tell me. We got plenty of aces. It\u2019s fun to work with. I think he deserves that name after last year, if you want me to be honest. But at the same time, we have a rotation full of aces. \u2026 It\u2019s fun to work with all of them, and I\u2019m glad he had a good one today.\u201d<\/p>\n
The catcher needs to be diplomatic, and that\u2019s fine.<\/p>\n
The columnist\u2019s view? Yamamoto\u2019s the ace. Case closed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Even on a day when the World Series MVP didn\u2019t have his usual command, he demonstrated the traits that a No. 1 starter must have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n