MLB WORLD SERIES: DODGERS VS BLUE JAYS

October 25, 2025

Dave Roberts

Rogers Centre

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Los Angeles Dodgers - 5, Toronto Blue Jays - 1

Q. Don't hold back any superlatives. Talk about your starting pitcher's performance.

DAVE ROBERTS: Outstanding, uber competitive, special. Yeah, he was just locked in tonight. It was one of those things he said before the series, losing is not an option, and he had that look tonight.

Q. Sticking with pitching, Yamamoto was throwing a lot of splitters early, then went to his cut fastball the second time around the Jays order, then -- sorry, to his fastball second time around the order, and then to his cutter the last time around the order. Was that a game plan thing or a control thing?

DAVE ROBERTS: That was more of a feel, read, and react thing. The great thing about Yoshi is he has four pitches to get lefties out, righties out, and you're reading hitters and making adjustments. I thought Will Smith did a fantastic job, I thought Mark Prior did a great job game planning, and Yoshi executed.

Q. Yoshi hasn't pitched in as many postseasons as most of your roster, yet time and time again in these situations, high pressure, he seems to perform. What is it about maybe his personality that allows him to pitch like this in these moments?

DAVE ROBERTS: You know, he's pitched in huge ball games in Japan. He's pitched in the WBC. Players that have the weight of a country on their shoulders, that's pressure. So I just feel that part of his DNA is to just perform at a high level in big spots and control his heartbeat and just continue to make pitches. So I mean, he could have went another 30, 40 pitches tonight.

Q. Will struggled last postseason, and it seemed as if during the regular season this year, you guys were a little bit more intentional about managing his workload in order to have him be ready for this time of the season. Is tonight kind of what you envisioned when you instituted that plan?

DAVE ROBERTS: It was, but last year he was banged up and wasn't playing well in September and through the postseason. This year certainly managing his workload, and then obviously he fractures his hand, and so I think the last week, that week off, I think, got him over the hump. It was the first time in a while he's pulled a ball like that, so I think that's part of the healing process.

Q. Then overall, does he look fresher and healthier to you right now than he did last year?

DAVE ROBERTS: Absolutely. The catching is such a demanding position, but I think overall, mental clarity, the body's fresh.

Q. You may have touched on it right there, but with Will, despite the injury, he had maybe his best year offensively, and he's always been pretty good. But how has he gotten better, how has he developed as a player over the seven years you've had him?

DAVE ROBERTS: I think the game calling, the relationship with the pitchers has continued to get better. He's always had the bat to ball, the ability to hit to all fields, the ability to hit verse left, verse right. He understands when to pick his spots. He does his homework. I think at the end of the day, he's a guy that just doesn't panic. He's really got a flat-line heartbeat, and in the postseason, that's what you need.

Q. Given the way the game was going with both pitchers pitching the way they were, what did it feel like in the dugout when Will hit the home run and then Max followed him?

DAVE ROBERTS: Huge relief. Gausman was throwing the baseball really well. We were in between, I thought, offensively with the fastball. When Will got into that 3-2 count, just missed a 3-1 heater, and then they went to the well again and hit a homer, and there was just complete elation.

We felt that the way Yamamoto was throwing, runs were certainly going to be hard to come by. And then when Max backed it up with another homer, just huge relief. And then to build an inning after that was big. But, yeah, that homer kind of a big exhale from the dugout.

Q. I'm guessing after that first inning, you're not thinking he's going nine. How did your bullpen plan kind of evolve over the course of that game and at what point did you think, like, shoot, he might be able to finish this thing?

DAVE ROBERTS: After that first inning, I was thinking six. I felt he would find a way to get through six. It's an aggressive swinging team. I thought the stuff was good, so I felt that he could manage to get through six. Then the pitch count kind of stayed where it needed to stay. And then for me, I just didn't see anything fall off as far as his delivery and the execution.

Q. He said that you guys really didn't talk about going out in the 9th?

DAVE ROBERTS: No. No, it was a no-brainer.

Q. You were around to see Orel in your teenage years and you've seen and heard all the stories about Sandy. As you have watched the last two games, does it seem to you like a throwback to a different era?

DAVE ROBERTS: It's -- yes. I think that you look at Yamamoto, it's kind of the throw back in the sense of, when he starts a game, he expects to finish it. And he'll go as long as I let him. But that's his intent.

Q. So following that up, it would seem to me this is like the first Dodger complete game in the World Series since Orel pitched two in the 1988 World Series. As far as history goes, and you're a student of history, what does that feel like for you? I think obviously it's the first one in the five you've managed. And I think there's only been, this is like the third since Jack Morris. How do you feel about all that?

DAVE ROBERTS: Well, I love it. I love feeling that the starter is the best option to go six, seven, eight, and what Yamamoto is doing, nine innings. And you got to be efficient, you got to have the weapons to be able to take down a lineup three times, four times, whatever it is, and you got to want to do it. So he is a throw-back player. He works really hard in his prep and his delivery and the mindset. So for me it's a lot of fun to root for a guy, and you feel good about leaving a guy like that in.

Q. And now he's done it in back-to-back games.

DAVE ROBERTS: And he's done it in back-to-back postseason games.