About a decade ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers brought Kenta Maeda to Major League Baseball from Japan.
Now these 10 years later, Maeda is back pitching in Nippon Professional Baseball, and on Thursday night in particular, he had a smile on his face.
News emerged on Thursday morning in the United States that over in Japan, Maeda had just put together an epic outing.
Kenta Maeda’s Special Night
Maeda is back in NPB pitching for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles.
He was on the mound on Thursday, and he didn’t leave the bump until the game was over.
Maeda delivered an epic complete game shutout by going 9.0 innings and allowing just two hits. He didn’t walk a hitter.
He struck out nine opposing batters while getting 16 whiffs overall — and it took 116 pitches for Maeda to get the job done.
It was his first complete game shutout in NPB since 2015.
The coolest part had to be the smile on his face. Maeda got a hard lineout to end the game, and he couldn’t stop grinning. Clearly, it was a fun evening for him in a sweet throwback performance.
Vintage Kenta Maeda! š¦
9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 116 P, 16 Whiffs
The veteran secures his first complete game shutout in NPB since 2015, allowing just two baserunners all night š pic.twitter.com/zECagKUNK5
ā Yakyu Cosmopolitan (@yakyucosmo) September 24, 2026
Kenta Maeda MLB Career
Maeda arrived to play in MLB with the Dodgers beginning in 2016.
His first season was a great one, as he went 16-11 with a 3.48 ERA in 32 starts.
The next year, Maeda went 13-6 with a 4.22 ERA.
His ERA was 3.81 in 2018 as he split time between the rotation and the bullpen, and then 4.04 in 2019 as Maeda again got work in both a starting and relief role.
After that year, Maeda departed Los Angeles to sign with the Minnesota Twins. He had a 2.70 ERA with a 6-1 record in the shortened 2020 season for the Twins as he made 11 starts.
In 2021, Maeda made 21 starts for the Twins but was then injured, and he had only a 4.66 ERA before that.
He missed the entire 2022 season due to injury.
In 2023, Maeda made 21 appearances (20 starts) for the Twins with a 4.23 ERA in his last solid big league season.
Maeda then went to the Detroit Tigers and got rocked in 2024, with a 6.09 ERA in 29 appearances.
He got seven more MLB outings in 2025 with the Tigers and had a 7.88 ERA.
That was his last action in MLB, and now he has returned to his home country.
Maeda is 38 years old now, but it’s clear that he still has good enough stuff to get hitters out. It may no longer be in Major League Baseball, but it’s in what is widely considered the second-best league in the world, and Maeda looks happy to be there.
Ex-Dodgers Star Has Epic Night in Japan