Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto capped off his 2025 campaign with a win on Thursday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks, delivering six strong scoreless innings en route to Los Angeles securing their 12th NL West title in 13 years.
Yamamoto has not only been the ace of the Dodgers' pitching staff, but he has also been the most consistent, a quality that was rare among Dodgers pitchers this year. With his consistency and utter dominance throughout all of 2025, Yamamoto achieved something that only Hall of Famer Bob Gibson had done since ERA became official in both leagues in 1913.
Yamamoto finished his season with 200+ strikeouts (201), sub-2.50 ERA (2.49), sub-.200 opp BA (.183), sub-1.00 WHIP (0.99), and less than 35 XBH allowed (20). Bob Gibson was the first to achieve this tremendous feat back in 1968, which was promptly dubbed "The Year of the Pitcher."
All those familiar with baseball know the year that is 1968, and its significance holds weight til this day. Gibson was responsible for MLB lowering the mound to what it is in today's game after displaying one of the most dominant seasons a pitcher has ever recorded in MLB history.
Just to give you a quick overview as to how dominant Gibson was in 1968, his season stats were: a 1.22 ERA, an ERA+ OF 258, a 22-win season (which included a 15-game winning streak in between), 13 shutouts, along with 28 complete games, an 11.2 WAR, 0.85 WHIP, and 268 punchouts in 304 innings pitched.
To cap off a historic season, Gibson also notched himself a Cy Young award and NL MVP honors.
Despite the MLB having no plans to change the mound height once more after Yamamoto's performance in 2025, there is no denying that the 27-year-old right-hander will be yet again a key piece for the Dodgers as they head into the Postseason looking to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the New York Yankees accomplished a three-peat in 1998, 1999, and 2000.
Check out more of Adrian Medina's stories:
More Dodgers news:
Dodgers' Dave Roberts makes feelings clear on Roki Sasaki's new bullpen role after electric debut
Dodgers' $6M bullpen reinvention reveals early mismanagement of LA's most exciting rookie
Dodgers' $72M golden-arm reliever leads MLB in blown saves as pitch-tipping woes continue
Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw gets brutally honest on bullpen demotion in final MLB season