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The Dodgers will have a 4-1 lead to new closer Tanner Scott.
The 2025 MLB season started the same way 2024 ended: with a Los Angeles Dodgers win. Thanks to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and a fifth-inning rally, the defending World Series champions bested the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the Tokyo Series at the Tokyo Dome on Tuesday morning (LAD 4, CHC 1).
Tuesday was Shohei Ohtani's first MLB game back in Japan and, naturally, he recorded L,A.'s first hit of the new season:
Tuesday's starting pitching matchup was historic: Yamamoto vs. Shota Imanaga marked the first time two Japanese-born pitchers faced each other on Opening Day at any venue, and the first time Japanese-born starting pitchers faced each other in an MLB game in Japan. This year's Tokyo Series is MLB's first trip to Japan since 2019, which occasioned Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki's final games.
Seiya Suzuki, the fourth Japanese-born player to appear in Tuesday's game, went 0 for 4 with a strikeout and three broken bats. Tough day for him.
The Dodgers won Tuesday's season opener despite being without Mookie Betts (illness) and Freddie Freeman (ribs). They are 1-0, the Cubs are 0-1, and the two teams will do it again Wednesday before returning stateside. Here is what you need to know about Tuesday's MLB regular season opener in Tokyo.
1. Imanaga set a career high in walks
No team chased out of the zone less than the Dodgers last season, and their World Series-winning lineup remains largely intact. They worked Imanaga for four walks in four innings Tuesday, his highest total in an MLB game. Imanaga walked only 4.0% of batters faced last year, fourth fewest among qualified starters. The MLB average was 8.2% walks in 2024.
Imanaga did not allow a hit and was able to strand all four free runners, but the Dodgers elevated his pitch count. He needed 69 pitches to get 12 outs. Imanaga topped out at 75 pitches in spring training, so Cubs manager Craig Counsell pulled the plug after those four walks and 69 pitches, and turned the game over the bullpen in the fifth. It immediately backfired.
The bullpen (and defense) quickly let the game get away once Imanaga was removed. Credit the Dodgers for putting together long at-bats, taking those walks, and elevating Imanaga's pitch count even if they did not get a hit against him. Wearing down the starter and attacking the soft underbelly of the bullpen is a tried-and-true strategy. L.A. drew eight walks in the game overall.
2. The Dodgers had another big fifth inning
For the second straight game that counts, the Dodgers were no-hit through four innings before putting up a big inning in the fifth. They used a comedy of Yankees' errors to score five runs in Game 5 of the World Series last October. Tuesday's Opening Day fifth-inning rally wasn't quite as dramatic, but nonetheless it gave the Dodgers the lead.
The inning started with long man Ben Brown walking No. 9 hitter Andy Pages, and rarely does walking the No. 9 hitter ahead of Ohtani end well. Ohtani singled through the right field for L.A.'s first hit of the game/season, then Tommy Edman sliced a base hit to left to get the Dodgers on the board. Jon Berti's throwing error and Will Smith's single plated two more runs for L.A.
Imanaga was able to navigate around four walks in four innings -- he walked two batters in the second and two more in the fourth -- thanks to his propensity to generate weak pop ups on the infield, which are basically automatic outs. Brown couldn't do the same after walking Pages. The walk to the No. 9 hitter opened the door, then the Dodgers kicked it down for three runs.
Ohtani, by the way, scored a run in that fifth inning, becoming the first Japanese-born player to score a run in an MLB game in Japan since Hideki Matsui's home run at the Tokyo Dome on March 31, 2004. The Yankees and (Devil) Rays opened that season with two games in Japan. Ohtani scored again in the ninth, making him the first Japanese-born player to score at least two runs in a regular-season MLB game at the Tokyo Dome. He's also just the third Japanese-born player to record multiple hits in a regular-season MLB game at the Tokyo Dome, joining Suzuki and Matsui.
3. Yamamoto was terrific
You think Imanaga and Yamamoto were pumped up to pitch in their home country? Statcast recorded both throwing about 2 mph harder in the first inning Tuesday than their 2024 season average. Imanaga's velocity tapered off a bit and he finished his outing throwing about as hard as he did last year. Yamamoto's did not. He threw gas all game.
With that increased velocity -- Yamamoto's splitter averaged 94 mph Tuesday -- Yamamoto held the Cubs to one run in five innings. Miguel Amaya got him for an RBI double in the second inning, then he settled down and retired the final nine and 10 of the final 11 batters he faced. He struck out four -- two on splitters and one each on the cutter and four-seam fastball.
Like Imanaga, Yamamoto topped out at 75 pitches in spring training, so he was removed from the game with his pitch count at 72 after five innings. He threw 29 splitters, or 40% of all pitches, the highest rate of any start in his MLB career. The Cubs swung 19 times at those 29 splitters and missed nine times for a stellar 47% whiff rate.
Yamamoto's season debut was a disaster last year. He allowed five runs in one inning in the Seoul Series, and because the first start always gets magnified, there were instantly questions about his ability to handle MLB hitters. Yamamoto more than answered those during the summer and into October. He was great last season and great again Tuesday.
4. L.A.'s bullpen shut the door
The Cubs had just one baserunner after Ian Happ's leadoff infield single in the third inning, and that was an eighth-inning hit-by-pitch. Yamamoto and four Dodgers relievers -- Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius, Blake Treinen, Tanner Scott -- retired 21 of the final 22 Cubs to finish the game. Scott joined L.A. on a four-year, $72 million contract this past offseason and stepped right into the closer's role. A record 14 pitchers recorded a save for the Dodgers last year. Scott should put an end to the revolving door in the ninth inning, not that it held the Dodgers back.
5. Up next
The Cubs and Dodgers will do it again Wednesday. That's another 6 a.m. ET start at the Tokyo Dome. Roki Sasaki will make his MLB debut as L.A. goes for the two-game sweep. The Cubs will counter with lefty Justin Steele.
