The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions, accomplishing a goal many considered a given after they signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto during the last offseason. Both made significant contributions in the playoffs, as the Dodgers first got past the San Diego Padres, then the New York Mets, and finally the New York Yankees.
But they were just two of the five Japanese import players in Major League Baseball who appeared in the 2024 playoffs. Padres starter Yu Darvish was very good in his two starts, while San Diego reliever Yuki Matsui made just a single, scoreless appearance. At the other end of the spectrum, pitcher Kodai Senga of the Mets dealt with an injury-plagued regular season and then struggled in the playoffs.
Two other Japanese imports, pitchers Yusei Kikuchi of the Houston Astros and Kenta Maeda of the Detroit Tigers, were on playoff teams but did not appear in any games. The Astros were eliminated by the Tigers before Kikuchi’s turn in the rotation, and Maeda was not on Detroit’s playoff roster.
The remaining MLB import players – outfielder Seiya Suzuki and starting pitcher Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs, and designated hitter Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox – were on clubs that did not advance to the playoffs.
Shohei Ohtani
Though his overall statistics were underwhelming, Ohtani had his moments in his first career playoff opportunity. Over 16 games, he averaged just .230 with a .766 OPS, far off his corresponding regular-season marks of .310 and 1.036. He was just 3-23 in the World Series, though that could partially be attributed to the left shoulder injury he suffered while sliding into second base late in Game 2. Fortunately, tests revealed no structural damage.
However, he hit a three-run home run in Game 1 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) against the Padres, and he launched a leadoff homer against the Mets in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS). The latter was hit at 117.8 mph, the hardest-hit homer of this postseason and the third hardest-hit home run in the past 17 postseasons. He has hit more home runs at least 115 mph this year (nine) than the rest of the National League combined.
In the NLCS, Ohtani was 8-22 (.363) with two home runs, nine bases on balls, a 1.164 OPS, and nine RBIs in six games.
In the World Series, he led off the eighth inning of Game 1 with his team trailing 2-1. He doubled and later scored the tying run in a Dodgers comeback victory.
Ohtani teammate Max Muncy was quoted as saying, “This is what I think is most impressive of all about Sho. Everyone expects him to do something amazing. And he just keeps doing it. There are a lot of great players across all sports. And baseball is a hard game. The greatest fail too. But it just seems with Sho that we have come to expect greatness from him, and he comes through just about all the time. It’s amazing to watch and we never get used to it.”
One must note that Ohtani is not the first superstar to encounter difficulties in the post-season. Barry Bonds was 7-for-45 (.156) with no home runs in his first two trips to the NLCS with the Pirates in 1990 and ‘91. Aaron Judge was 9-for-48 (.188) with 27 strikeouts in his first postseason run with the Yankees in 2017, and he averaged just .184 with a .752 OPS in the just-completed playoffs.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
After a first season in MLB that was shortened by injury, Yamamoto – he of the 12-year, $325 million contract – made four starts in the post-season, two against San Diego in the NLDS, one against the Mets in the NLCS, and one versus the Yankees in the World Series. Overall, he was 2-1 with a 3.86 earned-run mark and an outstanding 0.96 WHIP.
His first appearance against the Padres on October 5 was rough, as he gave up five runs on five hits, including a home run, though the Dodgers rallied to take a 7-5 win. Six days later, though, he pitched five shutout innings, gave up just two hits, and was credited with the victory as the Dodgers clinched the series with a 2-0 win. That game was especially notable because San Diego’s starter was countryman Yu Darvish, making it the first-ever MLB postseason matching Japanese-born starting pitchers.
Against the Mets on October 17, Yamamoto went 4.1 innings, giving up four hits and two runs in a 10-2 LA win. He then completed his post-season journey with an excellent outing against the Yankees in Game 2 of the World Series. He pitched 6.1 innings and allowed just one hit – a solo home run to Juan Soto.
Yu Darvish
After an inconsistent regular season abbreviated by injury and a personal matter, Darvish was very good in his two post-season outings. At one point, he was considered for a relief role in the playoffs. Instead, he made two starts, both against the Dodgers in the NLDS, posting a 1.98 ERA and an extremely low 0.66 WHIP.
On October 6, he limited the Dodgers to three hits and one run over seven innings and got credit for the victory.
In the series finale on October 11, he went 6.2 innings, allowing two runs on just three hits. However, two of those hits were home runs by Teoscar Hernandez and Kike Hernandez, which accounted for a 2-0 Dodger win.
That contest became Japan’s most-watched Major League Baseball playoff game ever, the league announced afterward. MLB said the game drew a 19.2 rating in Japan, which amounts to an estimated 12.9 million average viewers. That figure counts the telecast on the NHK station but does not include streaming numbers.
Kodai Senga
Senga missed virtually all of the regular season because of injuries and was able to make just one appearance, a 5.1-inning stint against Atlanta on September 26 when he gave just two hits and two runs. However, he had a difficult time in three playoff outings. In five total innings, he posted a 12.60 earned-run mark and 2.60 WHIP.
Against Philadelphia on October 5, he started but was lifted after two innings, having allowed a walk and a solo home run. On October 13, he started against the Dodgers in the NLCS, but lasted just 1.1 innings in which he gave up two hits, four bases on balls and three earned runs. He then relieved against the Dodgers a week later and allowed three hits, two walks and three earned runs in 1.2 innings.
It will be important for the Mets to get Senga back to full health for the 2025 season. In 2023, the first of his five-year, $75 million deal, Senga was named an All-Star and placed second in the National League Rookie-of-the-Year voting.
Yusei Kikuchi
Despite being an important factor for Houston after being acquired at a high cost from Toronto at the trade deadline, Kikuchi did not play in either of the Astros’ two Wild Card-series games against Detroit, both losses. He would have been the starting pitcher had there been a Game 3 of the series.
It’s an open question whether Kikuchi will be in a Houston uniform or another next season. Astros’ general manager Dana Brown was quoted as saying, “Yusei had a really good run with us, and as I said before, we aren’t taking any options off the table to improve this club. We knew how special he was when he pitched here and how receptive he was, but the fact that we do have a lot of those guys coming back, our rotation is going to be pretty stacked.
“We’re going to have to make some wise decisions as to ‘are there younger players that we can call up and put in certain roles to maybe save some money here, and then we can allocate that money to use in other places?’”
Yuki Matsui
After a decent regular season – 4-2, 3.73 ERA – his first in MLB, Matsui pitched just one inning in the playoffs, allowing a hit and no runs against the Dodgers on October 9.
This was the first year of a five-year, $28 million contract for Matsui.
Kenta Maeda
Maeda had a difficult season in 2024, the first of a two-year, $24 million contract with the Tigers, and he was not on the playoff roster.
He was had a 3-7 record in the regular season, 6.09 ERA, 1.380 WHIP, and -1.7 WAR. At one point, he was moved from the rotation to the bullpen, although he did make a start on the last day of the regular season.
NOTES: Designated hitter Masataka Yoshida of the Boston Red Sox underwent surgery on his right shoulder on October 3 but is expected to be ready by the time the 2025 season begins . . . Despite Ohtani’s great regular-season statistics, he batted only .219 with runners in scoring position during his first 125 games. However, he hit a walk-off grand slam on August 23 and hit .516 with six homers in 31 at-bats with runners in scoring position for the rest of the regular season, leading all MLB hitters who had at least ten at-bats in those spots . . . Chiba Lotte phenom Roki Sasaki – who may (or may not) be posted and made available to MLB teams this offseason – was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 1.036 WHIP in 2024. He averaged 10.5 strikeouts and 2.6 walks per nine innings. His strikeout rate was down significantly from the previous two seasons (12.0 and 13.4), and the walk rate was slightly higher than in 2022 and 2023 (1.6 and 1.7). However, he finished very strong with two clutch performances in front of a cadre of MLB scouts and executives. First, he clinched a playoff birth for Lotte with a ten-strikeout, one-walk complete game, and then in Lotte’s first playoff game, he pitched eight shutout innings, striking out nine and walking two . . . Interested in who might – or might not – move from Japan to MLB for the 2025 season? Here is an early look at some possibilities, including Sasaki, pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano and infielder Tomoyuki Sugano of the Yomiuri Giants, and pitcher Shinnosuke Ogasawara of the Chunichi Dragons. The article also mentions some candidates from the Korea Baseball Organization, highlighted by second baseman Hye-Seong Kim of the Kiwoom Heroes.
