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Before Roki Sasaki, there was Yu Darvish, who knows a thing or two about having tremendous hype on his shoulders as a Japanese superstar entering the big leagues. The San Diego Padres pitcher, who is now 38 years old, could have been one of Sasaki's first MLB teammates, but the Friars, among other teams, lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the heated offseason sweepstakes with the young hurler at the center of it all.
Despite the Padres coming up short in winning Sasaki's nod and seeing him go to National League West division rival, Darvish still wants to see Sasaki succeed in the big leagues.
Darvish thinks there will be some rough patches along the way for Sasaki, especially in the early goings of the latter's career but the veteran also said that he's ready to give the Dodgers pitcher a hand if sought for help.
“We’ll see [how] the season pans out for Roki,” Darvish said via interpreter Shingo Horie (h/t Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune).
“He may have some adversity that he needs to overcome, some hard times that he needs to overcome, and if he does reach out to me in those moments, obviously I will give him the support that I can give him. I think it's important to do that not only as a player, but as a human being.”
There will be immediate pressure for Sasaki to perform at a high level, considering the level of attention he's attracted — and the team he's joined.
The Dodgers are loaded with incredible talents in their pitching and hitting. Los Angeles is also just coming off a World Series win, with many expecting them to win it all again in 2025. With Sasaki now part of LA's equation, the Dodgers now boast of a scary Japanese triumvirate on the mound with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
That is the kind of team that Darvish and the Padres will see often in 2025, but San Diego isn't too shabby either when it comes to talent despite a relatively quiet Padres offseason. It's also worth mentioning that they came so close to eliminating the Dodgers in the last MLB postseason, with San Diego taking a 2-1 series lead in the NL Division Series before losing the final two games to Los Angeles.
