Dodgers Star Elevates Game in MLB, Shocking Fans This Year

(Original Caption) 6/6/1964-Philadelphia, PA: King of the Mount Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers knocks off the last of the Phillies' batters during the game here 6/6. In addition to downing the Philadelphia team 3-0, Koufax scored the third no-hitter of his career. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday was officially named the opening day starter for the Dodgers , with the right-hander set to take the mound on Thursday, March 26 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.

That puts Yamamoto in rare air, considering he also threw the last pitch for the Dodgers in 2025, getting the final eight outs in Game 7 of the World Series , the day after throwing 96 pitches in six innings in Game 6 . In case you forgot how that ended, Yamamoto won Game 6 and Game 7, and the Dodgers won a second straight World Series, with the star Japanese right-hander at the center of it all. Yamamoto next week will join Sandy Koufax as the only Dodgers pitchers to close out a World Series championship, then throw the first pitch of the next season.

Koufax beat the New York Yankees in 1963 to win World Series MVP , just like Yamamoto last year . In 1964 he started the Dodgers’ first game, also at Dodger Stadium, this time a shutout to beat the St. Louis Cardinals .

It was the only opening day start of Koufax’s illustrious career. While Koufax and soon Yamamoto are the only Dodgers to follow the last pitch of a championship and the first pitch of the next season, eight others in modern franchise history threw the Dodgers’ final pitch of one season and the first pitch of the next. Others in the Fall Classic Brooklyn lost the best-of-nine World Series five games to two in 1916, their first trip to the Fall Classic.