Welcome back, baseball, my old friend. As long-suffering Cubs fans, we know that this can be a very fickle friend. That was definitely the case in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. For one of the rare times where baseball is concerned, I really appreciated my move to the east coast. This game started at 6:10 a.m. ET, which doesn’t seem nearly as brutal as it must have been for the overwhelming majority of you in the Midwest. I don’t even want to think of poor Josh and our West coast faithful. Was it easier to just stay up than to try to get up at 3 in the morning?

An early wake up call (and the inevitable 3 a.m. wake up thinking I’d slept through my alarm) was a small price to pay to see meaningful baseball. Opening Day is always a little super charged and over hyped. But, this one had a particularly unusual feel for a March baseball game. The Japanese faithful love this sport so dearly that this one definitely had a playoff feel.

For some young Cubs players, that was quite a way to just try to get their season off on the right foot. Don’t forget that for a third of the Cubs lineup, this was their first time on an Opening Day roster. For Miguel Amaya, Matt Shaw and Pete Crow-Armstrong, this will hopefully be the first of many. This is a talented and yet pretty young Cub team.

For the Dodgers, that’s a clubhouse almost entirely dominated by guys who have been there before. Perhaps I’m not in midseason form, but I only found one statement on the national broadcast so laughable that I laughed out loud in a room where I was sitting alone while the rest of my family slept. If you were watching the national broadcast, you were treated to the comment from Jason Benetti that the Dodgers success stems from their strong minor league system. While I won’t dismiss the effectiveness of their draft and development team, without any effort to tie that statement to trades made to acquire talent, that will be one of the more laughable things I hear this season.

This is an excellent Dodgers team, but make no mistake that it is one of the best teams money can buy. None of the first seven hitters in their lineup, nor the two injured stars who missed the game were originally Dodgers. Miguel Rojas who batted eighth, was, but spent the last decade largely playing for the Marlins. Only Andy Pages in the nine spot was originally a Dodgers player. Of five pitchers used, only Ben Casparius was originally a Dodger.

I won’t play commissioner, but I will say that it can’t be good for the game when the system is such that so much of the talent can all gravitate towards one or two teams. Would I cheer for it if somehow the Cubs were one of those teams? Sure. I’ve rooted for every incarnation of this team since 1984 when I became a baseball fan. But I still wouldn’t think it was a great thing for the long term health of the sport.

But as usual, I don’t want to dwell on the negative. The positives include the spectacle that the game was. I do think it is great for the sport to have these showcase games and to continue to show this game to youth around the world. Someone watching this game will one day be a star in their own right. Maybe that person is watching the game for the first time. Or seeing it live for the first time. Whatever the case, I do think there is value to growing the game beyond international borders.

Baseball gets so much wrong, but Shohei Ohtani facing Shōta Imanaga to start the season is pure genius. There are five star players who trace their heritage to Japan on these two teams. It was a fantastic way to showcase the game. I tip my hat where credit is due.

Briefly about the game before I go to the numbers. I’ll do it in the form of three stars.

1) Shōta Imanaga. It was good to see Shōta look solid in the debut. One game does not a season make, but how many Cubs have one great season and turn out to be fool’s gold. Even with a tough strike zone and a talented foe, he looked pretty good, great for a first start of the year.

2) Ben Brown was not helped by his defense or that tough zone, but he overcame a rocky first inning to face 15 batters and flash how good he can be. I imagine most of you remember his rough season debut a year ago. A healthy and effective Ben Brown makes this team so much more formidable.

3) Miguel Amaya was a key contributor during the second half push by the Cubs last season. He had the key hit of the day for the Cubs, a two-out, RBI-double that gave them the early lead and their only run of the game. The Cubs managed only three hits and two walks (and a hit batter) against a tough Dodgers pitching staff.

Better luck tomorrow. Let’s get to those numbers.

Game 1, March 18: Dodgers 4, Cubs 1 (0-1)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Shōta Imanaga (.212). 4 IP, 16 BF, 0 H, 4 BB, 0 R, 2 K
• Hero: Miguel Amaya (.042). 1-3, 2B, RBI
• Sidekick: Jon Berti (.021). 0-2, HBP, SB

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Ben Brown (-.324). 2⅔ IP, 15 BF, 4 H, 3 BB, 3 R (2 ER), 5 K (L, 0-1)
• Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.130). 0-4
• Kid: Kyle Tucker (-.088). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Miguel Amaya’s two-out, RBI-double in the second that gave the Cubs an early run. (.114)

*Dodgers Play of the Game: Will Smith singles with two outs and a runner on second driving in the Dodgers third run of the game. (.112)

Cubs Player of the Game:

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Rizzo Award Cumulative Standings:

These will return after the first full week of games. But Shōta Imanaga starts the year off right where he finished last season as he seeks the first back-to-back Rizzo Awards since Anthony Rizzo won the first two years of Heroes and Goats, obviously before we created the award.

Up Next: The Cubs get another shot at the champions. Justin Steele will look to take back his spot as the Ace of the Cubs staff and a rising star in the National League. Hopefully, Shōta and Justin can make that a 1 and 1a type of situation.