More than any numbers, the magnitude of what Roki Sasaki achieved this year can be measured in the change in how he saw himself.

Sasaki stopped thinking of himself as a reclamation project.

Based on what he said after the Dodgers were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, the 24-year-old sounded as if he viewed himself as a future Cy Young Award candidate.

“My goal is to put up good numbers as a starter in the regular season and win individual titles,” he said in Japanese.

Sasaki didn’t specify which titles he wanted to win. But at his introductory news conference two years ago, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that Sasaki’s goal was to become the first pitcher from Japan to ever win a Cy Young Award.

Never mind how realistic that is.

The fact that Sasaki is comfortable enough to publicly share such oversized ambitions speaks to the progress he made this year.

This was the same pitcher who posted a 4.72 ERA in the eight starts he made in his injury-ravaged rookie season with the Dodgers in 2025.

This was the same pitcher who went into camp this year with the modest goal of making the Dodgers’ starting rotation and staying there.

This was the same pitcher who looked as if he belonged in the minor leagues in the first month and a half of the regular season.

By the time the Dodgers’ offseason started, Sasaki was talking about how he wanted to be part of the playoff rotation next year. 

“To start in the regular season and continue being a starter in the postseason, I think I have to give a performance worthy of that,” he said. “I know what I did this year wasn’t enough.

“There are a lot of good pitchers on the team.”

That will be the case again next season, regardless of whether the Dodgers re-sign Tarik Skubal.

Skubal’s potential departure could be offset by Shohei Ohtani, who will resume being a two-way player. The Dodgers will return their three other postseason starters – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow.

Sasaki said that if he can compete for individual league honors, he should be able to compete for a place in the team’s October rotation. He has spent each of the last two postseasons in the bullpen.

“In the playoffs, I think the team winning is prioritized more than anything,” Sasaki said. “I think that if I pitch well in the regular season, I should be able to throw (in the postseason). If I can’t do that, I think it would just mean I’m not good enough.”

Sasaki finished the regular season with a 5-5 record and 4.49 ERA. 

He was encouraged by how he started 23 games, which is the most he’d ever started in a single season in either the majors or in the Japanese league.

“The physical part,” he said, “has become better.”

In addition to pitching more, he pitched better.

In his first six starts after the All-Star break, Sasaki registered a 2.31 ERA. He averaged close to six innings a start.

The run of promising starts came to an end when he developed a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand in late August, but Sasaki felt as if he figured something out. 

The Dodgers did, too.

“I think Roki’s year, a ton of really positive to take away from it,” general manager Brandon Gomes said. “I thought his second half was incredible.”

In that stretch, Sasaki incorporated a harder variation of his signature forkball. He rediscovered his fastball, which declined in velocity in 2024, his final season in the Japanese league.

His average four-seamer was 97.9 mph, up from 96.1 mph last year. 

The improved fastball-forkball combination also made his slider more effective.

“My (fastball) velocity came back at the end,” Sasaki said. “Regarding that, I have to continue doing what I’ve done up to this point. I still don’t think I’m there with my breaking balls. I want to level up their quality.”

From where he stands today, Sasaki still might not be able to see the finish line.

But the road ahead is now visible.

After nearly two years of drifting without a sense of direction, he is ready to take purposeful steps forward.