The Los Angeles Dodgers signed veteran relief pitcher Kirby Yates to a one-year, $13 million contract in January 2025. Coming off an All-Star season with the Texas Rangers, the move felt like a case of the rich getting richer. The Dodgers, who had just won the 2024 World Series, added two All-Star closers — Tanner Scott and Yates — in free agency.

Both signings did little to move the needle. By Game 7 of the World Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was closing out the final game of the season, one day after he started Game 6. As for Yates, injuries did not allow him to pitch in the postseason.

Yates' only season in Los Angeles began with promise, but was interrupted by three separate trips to the injured list and ended quietly.

Flash forward one year, and Yates is once again hoping his body allows him to pitch in the postseason. The standings need to cooperate, too. His Pittsburgh Pirates entered the weekend with a 4.5-game deficit in the race for the third and final National League wild-card berth.

Yates is racing the clock on a couple fronts. The right-hander, whose eldest child is 8, told MLB.com he is considering retiring after the season.

"They want Dad home as much as they possibly can," he told Aiden Stepansky. "So, I think we're getting to a point where we've had conversations before; it kind of hits you different when they tell you they'd rather have you home. So as a father, when you hear that it kind of gets you pretty good in the heart. 

"And there's decisions to make here in the near future. I'm pretty positive in what I'm gonna do.”

Regardless of what he decides, the bulk of Yates' baseball career is already in the books.

Beginning with his 2014 debut with the Tampa Bay Rays, Yates is 32-29 with a 3.36 ERA and 101 saves in 516 games. He's worn the uniform of eight teams: the Dodgers, Rangers, Pirates, San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Los Angeles Angels and Tampa Bay Rays.

He made All-Star teams in 2019 with the Padres and 2024 with the Rangers, and collected downballot Cy Young Award votes after each of those seasons.

Yates' season in Los Angeles is among the more forgettable of his career. With a little luck, he can extend it at least until October.

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