Sports
Yoshinobu Yamamoto outduels Jacob deGrom, makes statement in Dodgers' win over Rangers
ARLINGTON, Texas — One of the starting pitchers Friday night has won two Cy Young Awards.
The other is making an early case to win one of his own.
For years, Jacob deGrom has (when healthy) been the gold standard of major league pitching. He has a career ERA of 2.54. He is a four-time All-Star and two-time strikeout king. In 2018 and 2019, he won back-to-back Cy Young honors.
However, in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win over deGrom’s Texas Rangers, it was Yoshinobu Yamamoto who was the best pitcher.
Although deGrom gave up just one run over seven strong innings, Yamamoto spun seven scoreless innings at Globe Life Field. Where deGrom struck out seven and walked one, Yamamoto had 10 strikeouts and no free passes.
It helped the Dodgers (15-6) win the series-opening matchup between the last two World Series champions; a victory also aided by two late insurance runs and two web gems from Max Muncy to escape a ninth-inning jam.
It also further cemented one of the most promising early storylines for this year’s team — affirming Yamamoto, in just his second MLB season, as a legitimate frontline talent seemingly poised for a Cy Young chase.
“He elevated his game to another level,” manager Dave Roberts said. “You could see that he was going against one of the game’s best in deGrom, and he obviously matched him pitch for pitch.”
Friday presented a new challenge for Yamamoto, who entered with a 1.23 ERA in his first four starts. His fastball didn’t have its typical life, sitting a tick lower than normal at 95 mph. His splitter, while still wicked, was a little wilder than usual early on.
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So, the 26-year-old Japanese star dug deeper into his bag of tricks. What he came up with, the Rangers (12-8) were helpless to attack.
“He used his entire repertoire tonight,” Roberts said. “He’s just got so much conviction with every pitch.”
That included his curveball, one of the few areas of weakness in Yamamoto’s otherwise sterling start to the season. Last year, Roberts called the pitch one of the best he’s ever seen from a right-hander. But this season, opponents entered the night batting .429 against it. Yamamoto hadn’t registered a strikeout with it once.
Friday was a different story. Yamamoto snapped off a flurry of big-bending curves, generating four whiffs on 11 swings. It accounted for two of his strikeouts, including one to Joc Pederson that stranded runners at second and third in the third. And of the seven that Texas put in play, only two fell for hits.
“If you look at it in totality, his stuff tonight,” Roberts said, “I thought this was his best outing.”
It was the same story with Yamamoto’s rarely used slider, which he gradually mixed in the second and third time through the lineup to give Rangers hitters a different, more unpredictable look.
He fanned Jake Burger with one to end the fourth, stranding yet another runner at second. He used it again on his 102nd and final pitch, recording a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double-play to complete seven innings for only the third time in his MLB career.
“He just has so many ways to get ahead of hitters,” teammate Tommy Edman said. “He can dump in a curveball. He can dot a fastball away. He just has so many ways to get back into the count. Then once he’s up in the count, he’s got a lot of pitches to put them away. He has something for every situation. And he’s been executing all of them.”
Yamamoto’s splitter was also still effective. He threw it 31 times (more than any other offering) while generating seven whiffs on 17 swings (four of them for strikeouts).
More importantly, Yamamoto felt he got ahead in the count more often than he had in his previous outings, mixing in a dose of sinkers and cutters to keep the Rangers constantly off-balance.
“I feel like my pitch mix is working better and better,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “Pitch sequence-wise, I’m pretty much leaving it up to our pitching coaches and catchers. But this year, I’ve been able to control every single one of my pitches.”
It all served as a reminder that Yamamoto — whose 0.93 ERA is the best in the National League — is continuing to evolve into a fully finished product. That, after brief flashes of brilliance last season, he is starting to put all the pieces together for a breakout sophomore big-league campaign.
“I do think that right now, he’s the best pitcher in the National League,” Roberts said, offering only Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes as a potential exception.
“He’s been a man on a mission. He’s been unstoppable,” Edman echoed. “I can’t really imagine anyone being any better than him right now.”
The 36-year-old deGrom, who also remains in that conversation even on the backside of his career, was almost as good in Friday’s pitcher’s duel. He yielded just three hits, touched 99 mph with his premier fastball, and retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.
But in the first inning, he threw an elevated heater to Edman (who was filling in as the leadoff hitter in Ohtani’s absence) that the utilityman whacked for his NL-leading seventh home run.
It proved to be deGrom’s only real mistake.
The way Yamamoto was dominating, it was one too many.
“I think there’s a sense of pride,” Roberts said when asked what it meant for Yamamoto to outduel deGrom, one of the big-league stars Yamamoto most looked up to early in his career in Japan.
“You look at who you’re opposing,” Roberts added. “He’s one of the game’s best. I know Yoshi’s followed him for years, Cy Young winner. You want to kind of go toe to toe with him on the road. And he did that.”
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Austin Reaves nearing return for Lakers as Luka Doncic remains out indefinitely with hamstring strain: report
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In early April, with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Los Angeles Lakers announced that star guard Luka Doncic would be sidelined at least until the NBA playoffs.
Doncic’s setback was a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, an MRI confirmed. The reigning NBA scoring champion sustained the injury during an April 2 game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers also entered the playoffs without another key member of their backcourt, Austin Reaves.
The shorthanded Lakers upset the Houston Rockets in the opening game of their first-round Western Conference series Saturday. Ahead of Game 2 on Tuesday, the Lakers reportedly received a clearer update on the health of at least one of their injured stars.
Lakers guard Austin Reaves brings the ball up court against the Washington Wizards in Los Angeles on March 30, 2026. (Ryan Sun/AP)
Reaves, who was diagnosed with an oblique strain, appears to be progressing toward a return later in the first-round series if it extends to six or seven games. If the Lakers advance sooner, he could be on track to return for the Western Conference semifinals.
According to ESPN, Reaves recently returned to the practice court for 1-on-1 drills. The 27-year-old will still need to progress to 2-on-3 and then 5-on-5 work before he can be cleared for playoff action, but he appears significantly further along than Doncic, who remains out indefinitely.
Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers controls the ball against the Orlando Magic at the Kia Center on March 21, 2026. (Nathan Ray Seebeck/Imagn Images)
Doncic is unlikely to play in the first round, regardless of the series length. ESPN footage showed him on the practice court on Tuesday, though the six-time All-Star was not doing high-intensity work.
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The Rockets, despite being widely favored in the opening round playoffs series, also contended with key injuries. Kevin Durant missed Game 1 with a knee contusion. He was cleared to play in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Houston Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr. shoots the ball against the Lakers during Game 1 in the NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, on April 18, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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LeBron James scored 19 points, while Luke Kennard led Los Angeles with 27 in Saturday’s win.
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Watching junior right-hander Fabian Bravo of Sun Valley Poly High pitch for the first time, there was something strangely familiar about his windup.
When he turned his back to reveal he was wearing No. 32, everything made sense.
He had to be a fan of Sandy Koufax, the 1960s Hall of Fame left-hander for the Dodgers.
Two friends sitting next to me refused to believe it.
“No way,” one said.
“Kids today have never heard of Sandy Koufax,” another piped in.
Only after Bravo threw a three-hit shutout to beat North Hollywood 3-0 was my belief vindicated.
“I come into the back with my arms and it’s a little bit like a Sandy Koufax kind of thing,” he said. “I wear 32 too. He was the starting pitcher for the Dodgers and was good in the World Series.”
Koufax was perfect-game good on Sept. 9, 1965, against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium, striking out 14.
Bravo started learning about No. 32 when his parents would bring him to Dodger Stadium as a young boy.
“I always saw No. 32 retired on the wall,” he said. “Once I got to know him, I was able to see who he really was. I felt I could really copy him and get myself deeper into history.”
Bravo is no Koufax in terms of being a power pitcher. He’s 5 feet 10 and 140 pounds. Since last season, when he changed his windup to briefly emulate Koufax’s arms going above his head, he has a 12-3 record. This season he’s 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA.
“I saw his windup and he looked like he was calm and composed and I tried it. I felt more of a rhythm. I was able to calm down and pitch better,” he said.
After Bravo’s arms go up over his head in his windup, he also does a brief hesitation breathing in and out before throwing the ball toward home plate.
“My dad always taught me to breathe in, breathe out before I do anything,” he said.
Nowadays, teenagers seemingly don’t pay much attention to greats of the past, from old ballplayers to Hall of Fame coaches. Ask someone if they know John Wooden, kids today probably don’t. He did win 10 NCAA basketball titles coaching for UCLA. And who was Don Drysdale? Only a Dodger Hall of Fame pitcher alongside Koufax from Van Nuys High.
Bravo is fortunate he’s seen Dodger broadcasts mentioning Koufax at the stadium and on TV, motivating him to learn more, which led to seeing his windup on YouTube.
His older brother also wore No. 32, so no one was getting that uniform number other than a Bravo brother at Poly.
There is another Bravo set to arrive in the fall. Julian Bravo will be a freshman left-handed pitcher and wants No. 32.
“While I’m there he’s going to have to find a new number,” Fabian Bravo said.
Julian might also want to help his big brother gain a few pounds at the dinner table.
“My brother takes food from me,” he said.
As for recognizing Bravo’s Koufax connection, it was No. 32 that provided the clue. How many pitchers in the 1970s were choosing No. 32? A lot. And it’s great to see a 17-year-old in 2026 paying tribute to one of the greatest pitchers ever.
Emulating Koufax is hard, but forgetting him is unforgivable.
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Eli Manning retired in 2019 and missed out in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility in 2025. He was passed over again earlier this year but still fired back at a fan who claimed one of his contemporaries was the better quarterback.
On Tuesday, a social media user floated a theory about former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan. Ryan, who now oversees football operations as the team’s president, last played in an NFL game in 2022. He announced his retirement in 2024, making him eligible for Hall of Fame consideration beginning in 2028.
“Matt Ryan was a better QB than Eli Manning… people just worship rings. Agree or nah,” the post read.
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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning greets Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan after their game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, on Oct. 22, 2018. (Jason Getz/USA TODAY Sports)
Manning caught wind of the suggestion and weighed in, pointing to the two Super Bowl-winning teams he was part of during his standout run with the New York Giants.
“I will ponder this while I play with my rings…,” Manning wrote in a quote-tweet.
Ryan’s statistical production surpasses Manning’s, at least on paper. He was named NFL MVP in 2016, an honor Manning never earned. Ryan is also the most accomplished player in Falcons history and finished his career with more than 62,000 regular-season passing yards, compared with Manning’s 57,023.
NFC head coach Eli Manning leads a huddle during a practice session before the NFL Pro Bowl at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on Feb. 4, 2023. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Both quarterbacks were selected to four Pro Bowls, but the key difference lies in championships. Manning won the Super Bowl in 2007 and 2011, while Ryan reached it once but fell short. Manning threw for a single season career-best 4,933 during the run leading up to the second Super Bowl title.
Ryan threw for 284 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions to help the Falcons build a 25-point lead in the championship game — a matchup remembered for the New England Patriots engineering the largest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the second half at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Jan. 2, 2022. (Rich Barnes/USA TODAY Sports)
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The Falcons have reached the Super Bowl twice in franchise history, first in 1998, but the team is still chasing its first elusive championship.
The Giants marked their 100th season in 2024, winning four Super Bowls over the franchise’s century-long history.
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