PHOENIX — The first pitch of the Dodgers’ 2026 season won’t capture the exuberance of the last pitch of 2025. But it will be meaningful in its own right, as the official first step of the team’s quest for a third straight championship.

How poetic that the same arm should deliver both pitches.

“It’s an honor for me,” Dodgers opening day starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto said Tuesday through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “And then it’s opening day at a Dodger Stadium home game, and that’s very [much an] honor to me. I also feel the responsibility.”

Yamamoto is scheduled to make one more Cactus League start, against the Padres on Friday, before taking the Dodger Stadium mound next Thursday when the Diamondbacks come to town. It will be the second opening-day start of Yamamoto’s MLB career, and his first at home.

It will also mark the end of a whirlwind offseason and spring training for Yamamoto, who not only shouldered a demanding postseason workload, but also navigated an especially quick turnaround to pitch for Team Japan in the World Baseball Classic.

“It’s hard to put into words,” manager Dave Roberts said. “He is just very driven, he’s very disciplined in his work. That’s some of the things that allows him to compete at a high level. Where most people would feel that you win the World Series MVP, you don’t have enough to pitch in the WBC. He wanted to pitch for his country, and now he’s really excited about the start of 2026.

“He is a very determined person. He really is. We’re just lucky he’s on our team.”

No one needs to be reminded that Yamamoto was a playoff hero last year, but let’s really break down his efforts.

On Oct. 14, Yamamoto made his third start of the postseason and threw a complete game against the Brewers to put the Dodgers ahead 2-0 in the NL Championship Series.

Eleven days later, he tossed another nine innings to help the Dodgers even the series against the Blue Jays. And he wrapped up the World Series with appearances on back-to-back days, starting Game 6 and finishing Game 7.

Yamamoto threw 526 pitches in the postseason, 235 in the World Series alone, and he still touched nearly 97 mph in his final inning of work.

Most pitchers would need at least a full offseason to recover. When Blake Snell slow-played his offseason because of lingering shoulder discomfort after the World Series run, the decision made all the sense in the world.

Yamamoto, however, was already pitching in meaningful games by March 6.

In Yamamoto’s first start of the WBC, he held Chinese Taipei hitless for 2 ⅔ innings. Then in the quarterfinal game against Venezuela last Saturday, he surrendered a leadoff homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. and a second-inning RBI double to Gleyber Torres before settling in for two scoreless innings. The eventual 8-5 loss eliminated Team Japan from the WBC.

“As Team Japan, the result was not what we were aiming for,” Yamamoto said. “But at a personal level, my condition was good.”

The season will be the true test for Yamamoto’s training methods, which have been infamous since before his transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, and are already spreading across the Dodgers’ clubhouse. Look no further than shortstop Mookie Betts this week lauding the effects of throwing a javelin.

If they continue to work, Yamamoto could be in the running for the Cy Young Award, after finishing third in National League voting last year.

“There’s high competition, there are a lot of great pitchers out there,” Yamamoto said, “but I hope that I get there.”

Yamamoto’s offseason work, however, wasn’t simply geared toward getting to opening day or winning an individual award. He knows as well as anyone that this team has set a high bar with back-to-back championships.

“The same goal,” Yamamoto said of 2026, “winning a world championship with this team.”

Now over four months removed from that final pitch of the 2025 World Series, one lesson has stuck with Yamamoto.

“I learned how difficult [it is] to get one win,” he said. “As a team, I want to be able to share that joy.”

A touch of gold is hitting the United States baseball team for the World Baseball Classic (WBC).

As Team USA arrives at loanDepot Park later in Miami, the team will be decked out in game-worn USA Olympic hockey sweaters.

Team USA outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong connected with Olympic hero Jack Hughes, who scored the goal to give the United States its first gold men’s hockey medal since the “Miracle on Ice” team in 1980. Hughes then reached out to his contacts at Fanatics Authentic, the company’s memorabilia division and partner of both athletes, who hand-delivered the jerseys to the team hotel in Miami in time for tonight’s game.

In total, 36 jerseys, covering players, managers and staff, were sent because the team wanted everyone wearing them.

After being worn in the Olympics and now by Team USA at the WBC, fans and collectors will have a chance to own a piece of one of the most unique crossovers in American sports history when they are auctioned off this summer at the third annual Fanatics Fest in New York, as well as select jerseys featured in Fanatics Under Wraps NHL product launching in May, which offers fans a wide array of licensed sports memorabilia in a mystery format.

The hockey team won gold against Canada to get some long-sought revenge. It was the eighth time the U.S. and Canada played for Olympic gold, and the only time the Americans had won prior to last month was 1960. Canada had given the United States gut punches in recent memory, including the 2002 gold medal game in Salt Lake City, Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in 2010, a semifinal knockout in 2014, and the 4 Nations final in 2025.

JACK HUGHES SENDS TEAM USA BASEBALL PLAYERS ‘FIRE-UP MESSAGE’ BEFORE WBC QUARTERFINAL VS CANADA

But this year, the U.S. has dominated Canada in plenty of facets. Not only did the men’s hockey team win gold over Canada, but so did the women’s team as well as the men’s Paralympic team. The baseball team also defeated Canada in the WBC quarterfinals last week.

Team USA will face Venezuela on FOX at 8 p.m. ET for the title. It is the third consecutive championship appearance for the U.S., which won in 2017 but lost to Japan six years later. This year marks Venezuela’s first trip to the championship, beating reigning champion Japan in the quarterfinal and then Italy in Monday’s semifinal.

New York Mets pitcher Nolan McLean will get the start for the Americans, while Eduardo Rodriguez of the Arizona Diamondbacks will toe the rubber for Venezuela.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter

Long before he became an NBA Hall of Famer, Paul Pierce was a senior at Inglewood High School thrilled to be chosen to play in the 1995 McDonald’s All-American Game, a nationally televised showcase that has brought together 24 of the best prep players in the country every year since 1978.

The McDonald’s all-time scoring record of 30 points had been set in 1981 by (who else?) Michael Jordan a month after his 18th birthday. Fourteen years later, Pierce scored at a blistering pace, yet because someone had stolen his jersey, he played a portion of the game with the name “McCoy” on the back.

Broadcasters credited “McCoy” with several baskets and apparently the scorekeeper couldn’t keep track either. In the box score, Pierce was credited with 28 points. In his mind, he was certain he had more than 30.

He painstakingly watched the game tape and, sure enough, he had scored 31 points. Yet the official McDonald’s record book didn’t recognize it, and Jordan continued to hold the record until Jonathan Bender put up 31 in 1999.

That is just one of the delightful, insightful stories included in the feature-length documentary “Meal Ticket,” an exhaustively researched labor of love by co-directors Corey Colvin and Carlton Gerard Sabbs of production company Stony & Yates. The film will premiere Thursday on Prime Video.

Meanwhile, Jordan had his own beef with McDonald’s — or at least his mother did. He was not given the John R. Wooden Award as Most Valuable Player in that 1981 game even though he set the scoring record and made shots during the East team’s last five possessions, including the winning basket in a 96-95 victory.

Deloris Jordan was not happy. On the elevator leaving the arena, she told broadcaster Billy Packer, “Poor Michael. My poor son Michael. He never gets any recognition. He never gets any respect.”

Soon, of course, her son would get his due, first for leading North Carolina to the NCAA title as a freshman — again sinking the winning shot — then for leading the Chicago Bulls to a record six NBA titles in eight years while winning 10 scoring titles. Michael Jordan is widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time.

Produced by Roc Nation, Known Originals and Creative Control, “Meal Ticket” chronicles the 49-year history of the McDonald’s All-American Games. Nearly 50 Naismith Hall of Famers were participants, and many reminisce for the documentary.

For most, the showcase was their first time on national television. At 17 or 18 years old, they were fresh-faced, eager and ultra-competitive. Colvin, 41, and Sabbs, 39, dug deep into archives of games and surrounding activities provided by McDonald’s and ESPN, and the result is a balanced blend of action footage and fond memories.

“We tried to illustrate the parallel between the McDonald’s game and the growth of the sport,” Colvin said. “I honestly feel it’s a power hidden within the McDonald’s game that people haven’t paid attention to. If you want to know where basketball is going, watch the McDonald’s game.”

Among the key developments was founder Bob Geoghan expanding the event to include girls’ basketball, launching a doubleheader format with the boys beginning in 2002 that proved immensely popular.

Two years later, Candace Parker won the annual Slam Dunk Contest, defeating, among others, JR Smith and Josh Smith, both of whom would be NBA first-round picks within months. Parker’s achievement was so unlikely that her own brother hung up on her when she called to tell the family, according to the documentary. Just another nugget unearthed by Colvin and Sabbs.

The creative careers of the Chicago South Side products began with directing branded content, and their mentors, directors Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah, helped them make a pitch to McDonald’s in 2022 for an independent documentary.

Early fears that the fast-food colossus would be overly brand conscious and dictate content were allayed. Mickey D’s not only gave the directors the rights to tell the story, but also provided game footage while steering clear of editorial meddling.

Bronny James of the West team talks to his dad, LeBron James of the Lakers, at the 2003 McDonald’s All-American Game in Houston, Texas.

(Alex Bierens de Haan / Getty Images)

Advertisement

“You’d think with McDonald’s, they’d be very hands-on to position and push the brand,” Sabbs said. “But they were good partners. We were even concerned about the name, ‘Meal Ticket,’ because it’s kind of edgy, a quadruple entendre. Would McDonald’s approve it? They stood by us. Nobody micromanaged us. And when they were around, we knew we’d be getting some french fries.”

The closest Sabbs and Colvin came to deviating from McDonald’s sanitized version of events came when the directors recognized the role Geoghan played in launching the Games. Amateur basketball luminaries Wooden — the legendary former UCLA coach with 10 national championships — Sonny Vaccaro and Sonny Hill were drawn into promoting the Games largely because Geoghan earmarked profits for the Ronald McDonald House Charities.

The documentary team immersed itself in the 2022 McDonald’s All-American Games, shadowing two boys and two girls throughout the weekend. Part of that story was the outpouring of emotion for Geoghan, who died at 87 in February 2022 and was honored at the Games a month later.

“When we were filming in 2022 we saw how deeply everyone respected Bob,” Sabbs said. “They did a tribute on the Jumbotron before the game and put a Bob Geoghan jersey and a dozen roses on the seat where he watched games.

“Bob never wanted to get rich off the McDonald’s Games. He was a humble guy who some said died penniless. I hope this film helps him and his family get some recognition for what he contributed to basketball. He really ought to be in the Naismith Hall of Fame and I hope that happens.”

All indications point to Geoghan redirecting attention to the court and the sheer number of precocious youngsters who went on from the showcase to legendary professional careers. California has produced the most McDonald’s players on both the boys’ and the girls’ teams. And simply considering those who eventually made their marks with the Lakers is staggering.

Magic Johnson starred in the first McDonald’s game in 1978. James Worthy played alongside Isiah Thomas, Dominique Wilkins and Ralph Sampson the next year. Shaquille O’Neal was MVP in 1989. Kobe Bryant made highlight reel plays in 1996. JJ Redick was 2002 MVP and won the three-point shootout. LeBron James was MVP in 2003.

Bryant and James, of course, were among the elite players to jump straight from the showcase to the NBA, skipping college. Another player who did so, Amar’e Stoudemire, was physically dominant even when sharing the court with other future greats.

“I was a different kind of beast, man,” Stoudemire says in the documentary. “I’m not doing a finger roll off the glass move. I’m attacking the basket and I’m shaking the whole backboard. I think from that point on, everyone knew, ‘Stoud, he’s going to the NBA. He ain’t going to college.’ By the time we left, I’m sure there were a few screws and hinges that had left the rim.”

JR Smith also realized he was going to skip college for the NBA after dominating the McDonald’s Game in 2004, scoring 25 points on an assortment of dunks and long-range jumpers. He was committed to North Carolina but had made no secret that he didn’t want to go there.

Upon returning to the hotel after the game, Smith began running through the halls, yelling, “I’m going to the league!”

This year’s Games will take place March 31 at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The West boys’ roster will include Southern California products Brandon McCoy Jr. and Maximo Adams from Sierra Canyon, Christian Collins from St. John Bosco and Jason Crowe Jr. from Inglewood. Jerzy Robinson from Sierra Canyon and Cydnee Bryant from Corona Centennial will play in the girls’ game.

Even with NIL money seeping into players’ bank accounts, Sabbs and Colvin haven’t noticed a change in how the best of the best approach the McDonald’s All-American Games.

“All you hear are these stories from all-star games that the players don’t care anymore because there’s too much easy money,” Colvin said. “But these guys are competing, playing defense, diving on the floor. The McDonald’s Games are still a precursor for where the game is going, from elevating the girls to NIL, and we hope that comes across in the film.”