At the conclusion of May, the second full month of the Major League Baseball season, the Los Angeles Dodgers had to be feeling positive. They had won eight of their last 10 games, held the second-best record in MLB, and their trio of Japanese import players was making significant contributions.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto continued to be effective at the top of the rotation; fellow starter Roki Sasaki gave tantalizing hints that he may be beginning to fulfill his promise; and two-way star Shohei Ohtani was again – yawn – outstanding.
In five starts, Yamamoto had just one hiccup – five earned runs in six innings against the San Francisco Giants. He went at least six innings in four of his five outings and was 3-2 with a 2.84 ERA for the month. He allowed just 25 hits and six bases on balls in May for a 0.98 WHIP. For the season, he is 5-4 with a 2.86 earned-run mark and 1.00 WHIP.
“He’s a guy that, in big games, he responds. That’s what aces do,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And they have the ability to weather stress, make pitches he needs to by the way of strikeout or double play, whatever he needs to be done, that’s what staff aces do.”
As for Sasaki, he did not have a quality start in April, and he wasn’t particularly effective in his first two in May against St. Louis and San Francisco. But in his last three – against the Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia – he allowed just 11 hits, three walks, and four earned runs over 17.1 innings. He was 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA during May, and his overall marks now stand at 3-3 and 4.59.
The Dodgers think that Sasaki’s confidence is rising. Against Milwaukee, he gave up three runs (two earned) in the first inning but allowed little in the next four frames.
“It’s a sign of a young player really starting to grow up and understand his responsibility to the team,” Roberts said. “You need to take down innings and outs as a starting pitcher, and it’s not always going to be easy. That’s a learning moment when he could have folded, and last year it might have been tougher for him to get through that first inning, but he got through [it] and went four more scoreless.
“It seems like every outing he’s learning and getting better as a Major League pitcher.”
At 24, Sasaki is still clearly a work in progress, but the Dodgers are willing to be patient and let him learn at the MLB level.
The Dodgers are also being careful about how they handle Ohtani’s workload. There have been a few times they did not use him as a hitter in games that he pitched, though he’s now back to doing both.
He made four starts in May, posting a 3-1 record and an ERA of 1.08. He gave up just three earned runs in 25 innings while striking out 27 batters and walking eight. Twice, he went seven innings and once six. Overall, he is 5-2 with an 0.82 earned-run average and 0.82 WHIP.
As a designated hitter, he averaged .289 with four home runs, 18 RBIs, and an .892 OPS. For the season, he’s slashing .280/.402/.493. Against Colorado on May 27, he became the first pitcher to hit a home run and not allow a hit in the first six innings of a game since Jake Arrieta on Sept. 27, 2015. He even hit his first Little League home run in a May 17 contest against the Angels.
The three Dodgers, though, weren’t the only imports to play well in May. Chicago White Sox rookie slugger Munetaka Murakami and San Diego reliever Yuki Matsui made big contributions, though the former’s breakout season is now delayed by a stint on the injured list because of a right hamstring strain he suffered while running out a fielder’s-choice ground ball on May 29.
Murakami, surrounded by a lot of question marks after the White Sox signed him in the off-season, finished May with 20 home runs and 41 RBIs. He is tied for second in MLB in the home run chase and ranks in the top ten in RBIs. After averaging .244 with eight home runs and 18 RBIs in May, he’s slashing .240/.378/.560 for the season.
As expected, his strikeout rate is high – at the end of May, he ranked fifth in MLB with 80 – but he has helped inject new life into the improving White Sox, who lost a record 121 games two seasons ago but finished May five games over .500.
“As a professional baseball player, it’s a must to really commit to win,” Murakami said. “That’s what we do every single day. I never really thought about us being a losing team. It’s always having that winning culture, and going into games with that kind of mindset. We are here to win.”
He’s expected to miss four to six weeks because of the hamstring injury, which could put a dent into Chicago’s momentum.
“Yeah, it’s tough. Obviously, he makes a massive impact on our group, on and off the field,” manager Will Venable said. “He’s someone that puts so much energy into his work and to other people. He’s probably pretty down right now, knowing that that’s going to take a different form here over the next few weeks.”
On the other side of the country, San Diego’s Matsui has added to an already very strong bullpen since returning from a groin injury on May 5. He had performed decently, if unspectacularly, in his first two seasons with the Padres and was very much under the radar, as is typical for a setup reliever.
However, he was outstanding in May, posting a 0.60 earned-run average and 0.87 WHIP in eight outings covering 15 innings. He allowed just six hits and a single run while striking out 15. The only blemish was the seven walks he gave up.
An import who landed in the OK category in May was starter Tomoyuki Sugano, who is in his first season with the Colorado Rockies after playing in Baltimore in 2025. He began the month with starts against the New York Mets and Arizona, in which he gave up nine earned runs in 10 innings. But he rebounded to allow just seven earned runs over 16.1 innings in his last three outings.
For the season, Sugano has a 4-4 record and a 4.01 ERA.
Now to those who had more difficult times during May.
Outfielder/designated hitter Seiya Suzuki of the Chicago Cubs hit .328 in April but just .190 in May. He was hitless in 15 games and slugged just .286, along with a .265 on-base percentage. For the season, his slash line is .244/.332/.395. He has just seven home runs and 19 RBIs after a season in which he hit 32 and drove in 103.
“There’s good at-bats in there, some bad at-bats,’’ he said. ‘‘But I think the amount of good at-bats is increasing, and I’m trying to figure everything out one at-bat at a time. Even if I’m not hitting well, I can focus on defense and try to help the team there, too. But I’m trying to get that offense going.”
He has improved his defensive play in right field. At one point, he was envisioned as primarily a designated hitter, but he’s clearly worked hard on his defense.
“The last few years, with my defense, I think there was a little bit of worry,” Suzuki said on May 30. “But coming into this year, I felt good.”
“It’s never been an ability thing,” Chicago shortstop Dansby Swanson said. “I think Seiya might have more talent than anybody on our team. For him to be almost humble enough to know he’s got things that he can work on and get better at — and also go work on them and get better — kind of shows who he is and how much he cares about his craft and being a good player.”
Suzuki’s teammate and starting pitcher Shota Imanaga had a month that swung from pretty darn good to just plain not good. He made six starts during May. Half were good; half were not. In the first three, he allowed just three earned runs in 15 innings. In the last three, he gave up 21 hits, eight home runs, and 20 earned runs in 16.2 innings. For the month, his marks were 2-4 and a 5.80 ERA. Overall, he stands at 4-6 with a 4.37 ERA.
Home runs were an issue for Imanaga last season and have been so far in 2026. He allowed an average of one home run every 4.64 innings in 2025 and has given up one per 5.38 innings in 2026. In a May 29 start against St. Louis, he gave up five hits in five innings, but three were home runs.
“I think the location was off, so they were getting good swings on it, even if the pitch shape was good,” Imanaga said.
“Right now,” he added, “they’re getting into hitter’s counts and putting good swings on locations that they can hit the ball well. I need to improve upon that. Next outing, even if they do put a good swing on it, I’ll try to induce ground balls.”
That leaves three starting pitchers and two position players who are still trying to get their footing. One may be doing just that.
Tatsuya Imai, in his first MLB season with Houston, had a difficult time in his first three starts and went on the IL with “arm fatigue”. After a couple of rehab starts, he rejoined the Astros’ rotation but did not fare well in starts on May 12 and May 18 against Seattle and Minnesota, allowing nine earned runs in 8.2 innings.
But then came a turnaround, and the Astros can only hope it’s a harbinger of better things to come.
On May 25, Imai pitched around four walks and managed six hitless innings in what became a combined no-hitter against the Texas Rangers. Six days later, he was even better, going six innings against Milwaukee while giving up just three hits and two runs.
“I was able to find a position where I am really comfortable,” Imai said after the Milwaukee game through an interpreter. “Even with the high intent, I was confident in being able to put it in the zone. I was very happy about that.”
“It was really good how he’s got more confidence,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “There’s a different presence about him when he knows, ‘OK, things are starting to go my way.’ That’s very important for him just where he started and where he’s at now.”
The remaining two starting pitchers – Yusei Kikuchi of the Angels and Kodai Senga of the Mets – are battling injuries.
Kikuchi went on the Injured List at the beginning of May with shoulder inflammation and is hoping to avoid surgery and return early in the second half of the season.
“I’ve never had a major injury to this point and fortunately the damage wasn’t major,” Kikuchi said through interpreter Koki Goto. “My inflammation was very controlled, so I think I can get back into throwing again hopefully soon. There was a conversation where I might get back quicker, but considering this is a very long season and I’m with the Angels next year too, I had a conversation with people and decided to kind of take it step-by-step in terms of this rehab right now.”
He had struggled prior to going on the IL on May 3, posting a 5.81 ERA with 33 strikeouts, 14 walks, and three homers allowed in 31 innings across seven starts.
Senga, who had two difficult seasons following a fine rookie year in 2023, was 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA in four starts covering 20 innings in 2026 before hitting the Injured List on April 28 with lumbar spine inflammation.
He’s had a couple of rehab starts since then. In the first, he averaged 95.5 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball, but that dropped to 94.3 mph in his second start a week later when he had trouble with command. In that game, he made 80 pitches over 3.2 innings, and just 41 were strikes. He can remain on a rehab assignment until June 20, but there is no definite timetable for his return.
Toronto Blue Jays’ third baseman Kazuma Okamoto is transitioning to MLB this year after a long NPB career and is still a work in progress. He’s slashing just .214/.303/.419, though he has a team-leading 12 home runs and 33 RBIs. During May, Okamoto averaged .210 with seven homers and 18 RBIs.
He began May by launching five home runs over a five-game stretch, but he did not hit another until May 27 when he hit a solo shot to the opposite field against the Miami Marlins.
“When he’s staying to that side of the field, in center and right-center, he’s got pretty elite power,” manager John Schneider said. “That was just a really good approach.”
“To be honest, I obviously want to hit more,” Okamoto said through interpreter Yusuke Oshima. “Over the long course of a season, I know there are going to be ups and downs, and that’s not different from playing in Japan. Hopefully, I can get it going soon.”
Masataka Yoshida, now in the fourth season of a five-year, $90 million contract with Boston, still remains in a somewhat tenuous spot. He is a designated hitter and outfielder, and the Red Sox have a surplus of each.
So far this season, Yoshida hasn’t done much to set himself apart. He averaged .295 in April but just .254 with a .695 OPS in May. For the season, he’s at .259 with one home run, 10 RBIs, and a .706 OPS in 112 at bats.
NOTES: Padres right-hander Yu Darvish, who is rehabbing from internal brace surgery on his right elbow, as well as a flexor tendon repair, posted a video of himself throwing at Petco Park for the first time since the surgery. He has an eye on returning in 2027, but has not made a definite announcement. . .Through 54 games for Stanford University this season, Rintaro Sasaki is averaging .262 with 16 home runs, 47 RBIs, and a .952 OPS.
