Dodgers' lingering Roki Sasaki disaster means Blue Jays might win the war

It seems like a lifetime ago, but it's only been just over a year since the Toronto Blue Jays were spurned by Roki Sasaki. The Japanese right-hander reportedly got very close to signing with the Blue Jays ahead of the 2025 season, before deciding he was going to join the LA Dodgers.

It stung for two reasons. The first being that the Blue Jays and their fans went through the same kind of dissapointment just the year prior when it looked like Shohei Ohtani was going to join the team, but also chose the Dodgers instead. The second reason was that Toronto made a trade that allowed them to get some extra money specifically to sign international free agents, making it seem all the more likely that Sasaki would become a Blue Jay.

But after that didn't materialize, Blue Jays fans were left wondering how did they miss out again? Now, after a season where Sasaki was fine, but not great in the 10 games he pitched for the Dodgers in 2025, his 2026 Spring Training is off to a rocky start as well suggesting the Blue Jays may have avoided disaster.

Blue Jays may be lucky to have steered clear of Roki Sasaki

Sasaki's 2025 season didn't exactly go the way he or the Dodgers planned, despite the year ending with a World Series title. Sasaki spent most of the season on the IL and in the games he did pitch, he finished with a 4.46 ERA in 36.1 innings pitched. He walked almost as many batters as he struck out with a 28:22 K/BB ratio. While he didn't give up a lot of contact, with a .235 BABIP, he did give up hard contact, with opposition hitters getting a 45.8% hard hit rate, higher than the league average of 41% and the average exit velocity coming off the bats at 90.6 mph, the league average sits at 88.8 mph.

But in the playoffs, he was a key cog in the Dodgers championship run as he was moved to the bullpen and it was a moved that may have saved their season. Sasaki pitched in nine games, earning three saves. He threw 10.1 innings pitched and gave up just one earned run. He still had a 6:5 strikeout to walk ratio, but clearly limited the damage.

With a fully healthy offseason behind him and a championship ring in his trophy case, the hope was that Sasaki could be reinvigorated going into 2026. However, Sasaki was hit hard in his first spring outing on Wednesday as he gave up three runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. While he struck out three batters with a combination of his fastball and splitter, only 17 of his 36 pitches were strikes.

In his second start on Tuesday (Mar. 3) Sasaki issues three walks and gave up a grand slam to Kyle Manzardo in the first inning. Manager Dave Roberts pulled him before he could record an out.

Sasaki is only 24-years-old and still has plenty of time to figure things out and when he was brought back into the game to pitch the second (Spring Training allows pitchers to re-enter games) he struck out two and got a three-up, three-down inning. He then did the same in the third.

Sasaki may still turn into the pitcher that everyone was hyped up about when it was announced he would be eligible to play in MLB. But at this point, it seems like the Blue Jays were better off moving on without him as they have built up a solid rotation with plenty of depth options for the upcoming campaign.