Heading into the spring, it looked like the Los Angeles Dodgers had one starting pitching spot up for grabs, with Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, and Roki Sasaki duking it out for one spot behind Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and two-way unicorn Shohei Ohtani.
On paper, this created some nice drama and gave fans a chance to track the three players to gauge who was leading the race, who was falling behind, and who landed somewhere in between, but when news broke that Snell would miss at least a few weeks with a shoulder injury, it changed that calculus in a major way.
With two spots now open for new starters, how would Sheehan, who started 12 of the 15 games he appeared in for the team last year, fit into the picture for the Dodgers out of the gate? Well, according to the player himself in conversation with The Athletic's Fabian Ardaya, the picture has become clear: he will be a member of the Dodgers' starting lineup later this month.
“Not that it should register as much of a surprise, but Emmet Sheehan said he’s been told he will be a starter to open the year,” Ardaya wrote. “Not official what day he will start in the opening homestand.”
Now, as Ardaya noted, it's unclear which day Sheehan will pitch for the Dodgers, with only Yamamoto locked in as the team's Opening Day ace, but the fact that he parlayed some great pitching in 2025 and some solid Cactus League work into a starting role is a real testament to Los Angeles' player development program, which, when coupled with their big game hunting approach to free agency, is a big reason why the World Series runs through Elysian Park.
