“Baseball needs it” - Former Dodgers pitcher makes a strong case for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki in WBC

The Los Angeles Dodgers' Japanese contingent of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki featured in the NL West team's historic consecutive World Series titles this year.

While Ohtani and Yamamoto played a crucial role in the Dodgers' postseason success, Sasaki was moved to the bullpen after a shaky start to his rookie season in Los Angeles.

Despite the workload on their arms during the postseason, former Dodgers pitcher Eric Gagne wants the Japanese trio to start for Team Japan in next year's World Baseball Classic (WBC) in March.

Gagne shared his reasoning:

"Baseball needs it. I think it’s fun for the fans. It’s fun for everybody. That’s how you grow the game. You want to see the best players in the world face each other and represent their country.”

Ohtani resumed his two-way pitching role with the Dodgers for the first time since joining the team in 2024. Yamamoto had a historic World Series performance that earned him the World Series MVP title.

Former Dodgers pitcher Eric Gagne bats for "risk" of playing WBC after World Series run

While the duo had a stellar postseason, it will be interesting to see how their workload will be managed. Gagne acknowledged the risk of playing again in March but said the reward outweighs the risk.

“There is more of a risk, but every time you step on the field there’s a risk there as well,” Gagne said. “I think the game outweighs the risk.”

Eric Gagne, who won the NL Cy Young with the Dodgers in 2003, did not feature in the WBC until 2017 when he put on the colors of Canada. Although Gagne came out of retirement to play in the 2017 edition of the tournament, the former pitcher cherished it as “the best experience in baseball.”

"To represent your country on really the biggest stage in the world,” Gagne said, “there’s nothing like it.”

The WBC starts on March 5 with Japan set to play its first pool game on March 6.