The Dodgers kicked off the 2025 campaign with a 4-1 win over the Cubs in Tokyo. Despite an ailing Mookie Betts being sent home and Freddie Freeman being scratched from the lineup with rib discomfort, the offense once again broke through in the fifth inning against a team playing some shoddy defense. They couldn’t muster much off Cubs’ starter Shota Imanaga, who threw four no-hit innings but did issue four walks and struck out only two. The Dodgers put up three off Ben Brown in the fifth and added an insurance run in the ninth off old friend Ryan Brasier. The insurance wasn’t necessary as Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a much better season debut this season, allowing three hits and a run over five solid innings. The Cubs got their run on a second inning single and RBI double, had another infield single in the third and went hitless for the rest of the game. Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius (throwing 99?), Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott combined to throw four perfect innings to close out the 2025 opener. Tonight, the Dodgers send the top prospect in all of baseball, Roki Sasaki, to the mound in his home country to kick off his career.
3:10 A.M.
Tokyo
DH
Ohtani (L)
LF
Happ (S)
2B
Edman
DH
Suzuki
1B
Freeman (L)
RF
Tucker (L)
RF
T. Hernández
1B
Busch (L)
C
Smith
3B
Shaw
LF
K. Hernández
SS
Swanson
3B
Muncy (L)
CF
Crow-Armstrong (L)
SS
Rojas
C
Kelly
CF
Pages
2B
Berti
P
Sasaki (R)
P
Steele (L)
Brim wrote a fantastic primer on Sasaki before he signed and Chad covered the signing, so give those a read to get hyped. The 23-year-old righty looked the part of a phenom in his two Spring outings, one start and one piggyback outing behind Yamamoto. He threw seven shutout innings total and allowed three hits and three walks with seven strikeouts over the two games. Sasaki debuted against the Reds on March 4 and was clearly amped up, averaging 98.0 MPH on his fastball and topping out at 99.8. The velo didn’t help him get a ton of whiffs, with only one whiff on nine swings at the heater. On the other hand, his 80-grade splitter came as advertised with seven whiffs on eight swings and an average RPM of only 518. His second outing and only start came in the Dodgers’ Cactus League finale and he tossed four shutout innings. This time, his fastball topped out at only 97.4 MPH and averaged 96.3 MPH and he failed to get a whiff on hit. The splitter still played, as three of the four swings off it were whiffs. His fastball velocity was a concern in 2024, as he lost two MPH off his average and his whiff rate decreased from 24 percent in 2023 to 13.1 percent in 2024. The lack of whiffs in his two Spring outings could be a concern, but it doesn’t detract from the excitement of his first Major League start.
The Cubs break the trend of Japanese starters in this series as Justin Steele gets the ball today. Steele has quietly been very good over the last two seasons, with a 3.06 ERA in 2023 and 3.07 ERA last season. He battled a couple injuries last year, missing all of April with a hamstring issue and missing a few weeks in September with elbow soreness. He did return to make two starts in September and was pretty good for most of the season. He had a rough three-start stretch in May that saw his ERA balloon to 5.68, but he posted a 2.47 ERA/2.76 FIP and .569 OPS allowed over his final 19 starts. Steele only allowed 12 homers in 134 2/3 innings and 10 of the 12 he allowed came against righties. Steele missed the Dodgers both times they faced the Cubs, but was very good when he faced them in April 2023. Steele allowed three hits and two runs (both solo homers) over seven innings and struck out eight with only one walk.
Steele is primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, throwing a four-seamer 59.6 percent and a slider 29.7 percent of the time last season. Both pitches generated over 20 percent whiff rates (22.4 and 28.2 percent, respectively). He mixes in a sinker against lefties and threw a handful of changes and curves last season, almost exclusively to righties.
The Dodgers roll out the exact same lineup as the first game, meaning Freeman remains out of the lineup. The Cubs made one change in the lineup, with Carson Kelly behind the plate after Miguel Amaya caught the opener
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More on Freddie.
#Dodgers Dave Roberts said that Freddie Freeman is doing better today and lobbied to be back in the lineup today, but ultimately conceded to Roberts and the training staff. Roberts expects Freddie to be available for the Freeway Series.
— Kirsten Watson (@kirsten_watson) March 19, 2025
Freeman tried to play, but the team opted to give him a bit more rest. He’s expected to be ready to go for the final three games of Spring Training, when the Dodgers return to LA for a Freeway Series starting Sunday night.
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The Dodgers also made their first roster move of the season, optioning Justin Wrobleski and activating Matt Sauer. They also created a 40-man spot by moving Clayton Kershaw from the 15-day IL to the 60-day.
The Dodgers optioned Justin Wrobleski and selected Matt Sauer’s contract.
Clayton Kershaw was transferred to the 60-day IL, which he said he anticipated when he signed his deal.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) March 19, 2025
Sauer was a feel-good story of the Spring, as he was informed he was making the trip to Japan as Dave Roberts pulled him from a rough Spring outing.
When Dave Roberts removed NRI pitcher Matt Sauer from tonight’s game in the ninth inning, he stopped and talked to him for a few moments on the mound
Turns out, he was informing Sauer he’ll be on the Dodgers’ travel roster to Tokyo
— Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) March 8, 2025
Sauer allowed seven runs in 7 2/3 innings in the Spring, but struck out eight with only one walk. He gives the Dodgers some length in the pen and does have options remaining, which is surely valuable for this team.
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First pitch is scheduled for 3:10 AM and will be shown on SportsNet LA and FS1.
