Hearing Yamamoto Yoshinobu cry out in pain, Kershaw joked, "At least he's still human!"

Clayton Kershaw, the three-time Cy Young Award-winning lefty of the Los Angeles Dodgers who ended his career on a high note by winning the World Series, shared on Mookie Betts’ YouTube program "On Base with Mookie Betts" that upon hearing about Yamamoto’s muscle pain, he humorously expressed relief: "Great, at least he’s still human!"

The Dodgers battled the Blue Jays in a seven-game World Series this year, with Yamamoto Yoshinobu, who earned three wins and was named World Series MVP, playing a pivotal role. His astonishing back-to-back appearances in Games 6 and 7 without a day off amazed the entire league. Kershaw said on the show he had planned to ask Yamamoto about his condition but instead learned from Blake Snell that "Yamamoto said his muscles were sore."

"That was a relief," Kershaw laughed, "It at least proves he’s still human."

Betts reflected on Yamamoto’s incredible feat of throwing 96 pitches to win Game 6 as a starter, then coming back the next day to pitch 2.2 innings in relief during Game 7, saying, "Everything Yoshinobu did was unbelievable." Dodgers rotation mate Snell added, "Pitching without rest is impressive enough, but his quality was as steady as if he had six days off. I honestly don’t know how he managed it."

Kershaw has publicly expressed admiration for the Japanese pitcher multiple times before, mentioning after the championship that if his fifth child, born in December, was a boy, he might name him "Yoshinobu." However, he recently revealed that this time they welcomed a daughter.

Japanese media outlet The Answer reported that the legendary left-hander has always held Yamamoto Yoshinobu in high regard, and this humorous exchange about his "human traits" further highlights the profound impression Yamamoto’s superhuman World Series performance left on the entire team.