Dodgers' Yamamoto wins World Series MVP

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the 2025 Willie Mays World Series MVP following his legendary Game 7 performance Saturday.

Yamamoto threw 96 pitches in the Dodgers' Game 6 win Friday, then returned to throw 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to win the epic 11-inning clincher. He earned the victory in both contests.

Yamamoto went 3-0 with a 1.02 ERA, 0.68 WHIP, 15 strikeouts, two walks, and one complete game in 17 2/3 innings during the seven-game series. His nine-inning effort in Game 2 was the first World Series complete game in 10 years, and just the sixth this century.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Yamamoto the "GOAT" multiple times while being interviewed moments before the team hoisted the trophy.

Yamamoto's the first pitcher to win three games in one World Series since the D-Backs' Randy Johnson in 2001, and the first to earn all three wins on the road, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.

He also joined Johnson, Harry Brecheen of the 1946 Cardinals, and Ray Kremer of the 1925 Pirates to win Games 6 and 7 of the World Series, per Langs. Yamamoto is the only one of those four to earn the win in Games 6 and 7 on the road.

Yamamoto is the 11th Dodgers player to win World Series MVP, and the fifth Dodgers pitcher to earn it, joining Johnny Podres (1955), Larry Sherry (1959), Sandy Koufax (1963 and '65), and Orel Hershiser (1988). He's the first pitcher to win it since the Nationals' Stephen Strasburg in 2019.