Had Sasaki, 23, made a different decision and gone with the Yankees instead of the Dodgers, Cedeno — and some of the other top Yankee signees — likely would have ended up elsewhere, since Sasaki would have taken up most of their $6.2 million pool.

Baseball fans who grew up during the so-called "Evil Empire" days of the New York Yankees under George Steinbrenner could surely never envision a time

Japanese ace Roki Sasaki has whittled his list of teams down to two. On Friday, Cuban baseball reporter Francys Romero reported that the San Diego Padres are “out” on the 23-year-old right-hander. That leaves the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The mighty Dodgers, that Evil Empire on the West Coast, have struck again, signing Japanese phenom Rōki Sasaki.

Sasaki, nicknamed in Japan as "the Monster of the Reiwa Era," struck out 11 batters in 7 and ⅔ innings with a 3.52 ERA during the 2023 WBC. In Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, he struck out 129 hitters in 111 regular-season innings for the Marines in the 2024 season.

The 26-year-old slugger is coming off a career year with the New York Yankees, having also helped ... including Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki and slugging first baseman Pete Alonso.

Juan Soto, OF, New York Yankees (26) — signed with Mets I mean ... needy team feel confident in him headlining a rotation. Sasaki, who has been one of the most intriguing arms in Japan ...

Sasaki's other finalists were the Toronto Blue Jays, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. According to The Athletic, the Blue ...

The splitter is on the rise in Major League Baseball, and the Dodgers are cornering the market. Splitters were thrown more often in 2024 than in any other season of the pitch tracking era, which goes back to 2008.

MLB teams have coveted Roki Sasaki since he broke Shohei Ohtani's Japanese high school record by reaching 101 mph with his fastball as a 17-year-old in 2019, part of a 194-pitch, 12-inning, 21-strikeout complete game in the national summer Koshien tournament.

There's not much question that while Major League Baseball remains the most prestigious and competitive league in the world, several other international professional leagues have closed the gap. In light of this,

The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series once again in 2025. There's no team with even close to the amount of talent the Dodgers currently have. The Dodgers have added a lot of talent to an already star-studded organization, but everyone from the 2024 roster won't return.