Considering their status as the reigning World Series champions, we have to imagine that the Los Angeles Dodgers always envisioned that rookie pitcher Roki Sasaki would play a major role in any playoff run this fall.

Instead, we won’t be surprised if Sasaki doesn’t even make the playoff roster. Not only has a shoulder injury kept the 23-year-old out since mid-May, but he’s allowed eight runs (seven earned) and six walks over nine innings during his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Sasaki’s command issues come after he walked 22 hitters in his first 34 1/3 big-league innings.

“I think for us, it’s just trying to get some consistency out of him to build him up and also at this point in time, just to perform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this past weekend.

“Our starters are pitching well, so the bar is high,” Roberts added. “This is a good kind of learning process for Roki. Just continue to pound the strike zone, command the baseball, and perform.”

The Dodgers cannot depend on Roki Sasaki in the playoffs

If Sasaki wanted pressure, he got it when he signed with the Dodgers in January. Although Sasaki was an accomplished two-time All-Star with the NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines, none of that necessarily mattered from the second that he committed to joining the reigning World Series champions.

The Dodgers are a title-or-bust team, and anything short of a third championship in six years is considered a failure. There’s no reason, then, for Roberts to trust Sasaki with the ball in the postseason.

At the end of the day, Sasaki is a 23-year-old rookie who can’t hit the strike zone. If not for the hype he arrived stateside with, then keeping him off the playoff roster would be an easy call for both Roberts and Dodgers management, regardless of how talented Sasaki might be.

Remember, the Dodgers aren’t an inexperienced team breaking through as playoff contenders. These Dodgers are heavy spenders with an injury-prone rotation and a core that, while still productive, has shown cracks this summer.

Shortstop Mookie Betts is marred in his worst offensive season since 2021, and Clayton Kershaw barely averages five innings per start. Outside of ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, it’s hard to feel comfortable believing in any of the Dodgers’ starting pitchers — and that includes Shohei Ohtani, who remains on a limited workload while returning from Tommy John surgery.

The Dodgers need as many reliable contributors as possible, and Sasaki isn’t that right now. That doesn’t mean we’re writing him off just yet, though his continued control problems certainly raise some major red flags.

If Sasaki wants to change our minds, he can start by dominating his next rehab start. Otherwise, he should plan on spending the postseason sitting on the Dodgers’ bench and mentally preparing to prove us wrong in 2026.