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Dodgers vs. Cubs Tokyo Series live updates, score: Opening Day 2025 is in Japan as Los Angeles starts title defense against Chicago
- Dansby Swanson got the first hit of the game, and Miguel Amaya brought him home with a double to center field.
- The Cubs starter walked Will Smith and Max Muncy to lead off the inning, but was able to get the next three Dodgers batters to fly out.
- Ian Happ worked a leadoff walk against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but the Cubs couldn’t capitalize any further.
- Shohei Ohtani saw the first pitch of the 2025 season, and ultimately grounded out to first in a 1-2-3 inning for Cubs starter Shota Imanaga.
- No Mookie Betts or Freddie Freeman in the Opening Day Lineup for the Dodgers. Betts was sent home earlier in the week after an unspecified illness reportedly caused him to lose 15 pounds. Freeman’s absence was an unfortunate 11th-hour surprise, as the 2024 World Series hero was scratched with “left rib discomfort” about a half hour before first pitch in Tokyo. It’s a concerning, potentially foreboding injury for Freeman, who battled through a similar issue during the Fall Classic last season.
- While Roki Sasaki gets a lot of the attention as the Dodgers’ biggest acquisition of the past offseason — and for good reason — it’s easy to forget that L.A. also added two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell to the top of its rotation, providing a true ace. And as you might’ve heard, the Dodgers also went several steps further, reinforcing the back of the bullpen with the additions of reliever Kirby Yates and closer Tanner Scott and boosting the lineup by signing outfielder Michael Conforto and second baseman Hyeseong Kim.
- For the Cubs, the most notable new face on the roster happens to be the team’s best player in Kyle Tucker, who was acquired over the winter from the Houston Astros. Tucker, who will be penciled in as the team’s right fielder, is entering a contract year, which should make for a storyline to watch all season. Other new faces on Chicago’s roster include infielder Justin Turner, closer Ryan Pressly, left-hander Matthew Boyd and top prospect Matt Shaw, who is expected to make his MLB debut in Tokyo and be the team’s every-day third baseman.
- It’s no secret that Major League Baseball wants to have a global reach, which is understandable considering the many countries represented in the league. After playing regular-season MLB series in Puerto Rico, Mexico, England, the Dominican Republic and South Korea, the next and biggest frontier in baseball was Japan.
- There’s as much Japanese star power in Major League Baseball today as there has ever been in league history. That’s not to mention that the best player in the sport, Shohei Ohtani, not only hails from Japan but also has become a global superstar. And while Ohtani’s fame has reached international levels, the other Japanese stars who will appear in the series — including Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki — represent some of the best talent to come out of Japan in recent years.
- For all intents and purposes, these two matchups are spring training games that happen to count. In some ways, it might seem like much ado about nothing, given that Chicago’s and Los Angeles’ rosters might look significantly different two weeks from now. But the importance of showcasing baseball on an international scale is paramount.
