Tokyo series: a breakdown

The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2025 Major League Baseball season in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday. 

The two teams played a two game series at the Tokyo Dome in front of over 40,000 fans. 

The Dodgers sent Japanese born Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the mound for game one, while the Cubs sent Japanese born Shota Imanaga to the mound. 

The Cubs started the scoring early in the second inning with a Miguel Amaya RBI double to score Dansby Swanson. Although the Cubs jumped out to an early lead, the Dodgers went on to score four unanswered runs to take game one. 

Game two saw Japanese born Roki Sasaki make his MLB debut on the mound for the Dodgers. He signed a deal to come to the MLB from the NPB in Japan this offseason. The Cubs sent Justin Steele to the mound, looking to avoid the sweep to start the season. 

The Dodgers got out to a quick lead by putting up a two run second inning. Tommy Edman added a home run to put them up 3-0 in the third inning. 

The Cubs answered back with a bases-loaded Kyle Tucker walk in the bottom of the third, but they were only able to get one run across in the inning. 

Enrique Hernandez added a two run homer in the fourth inning to extend the Dodger lead to 5-1. Ian Happ answered back in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single to cut the deficit down to 3. 

Shohei Ohtani homered in the fifth inning to extend the Dodger lead back to four, but Dansby Swanson answered back in the bottom of the inning to put the score at 6-3. 

The game stayed put af 6-3 for the last three innings. The Dodgers successfully completed the sweep with the 6-3 win. 

Both teams will go back to finish out their spring training scheduled for the next week. The Dodgers will host the Tigers on March 27 to resume their regular season with a 2-0 record. The Cubs travel to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks on March 27, looking for their first win of the season after an 0-2 start.

Mason Garcia

DiSportsPhotoAgency

Associate Writer