by Cary Osborne
The last we saw of the Dodgers in a meaningful game, they pounced on Yankees mistakes in the fifth inning, erasing a deficit and leading them to a victory in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series.
The first we see of the Dodgers in a meaningful game in 2025, no change.
The Dodgers showed again why it’s dangerous to give them an inch.
Their three-run fifth inning, capitalizing on a walk and a Chicago Cubs error, combined with an outstanding 2025 debut from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, led to a 4–1 victory on Tuesday in their season-opener in Tokyo, Japan.
The defending World Series champions opened the Tokyo Series hitless through the first four innings against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga.
With the Dodgers trailing 1–0, Andy Pages drew a one-out walk in the top of the fifth against reliever Ben Brown and Shohei Ohtani followed with the Dodgers’ first hit.
Tommy Edman made the Cubs pay for the walk, tying the score with an RBI single. The next Dodger run crossed the plate on a Teoscar Hernández grounder. The Cubs made an error trying to complete a double play on the grounder.
That led to Will Smith’s RBI single, driving in Hernández from second base.
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The pitching took it from there.
Yamamoto went out in the bottom of the fifth inning and finished his day with three outs on nine pitches.
The right-hander retired the last nine batters he faced, leading to a string of 16 in a row retired by Dodger pitchers.
“Fastball was as good as we’ve seen,” said manager Dave Roberts of Yamamoto. “Competed really well. There was some soft contact in there. Just navigated the game really well.”
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Yamamoto threw 29 splitters and 29 four-seamers out of 72 total pitches.
· The Cubs against the splitter: 1-for-9, two strikeouts, 19 swings/nine misses
· The Cubs against the four-seamer: 1-for-6, one strikeout, nine called strikes
· The splitter, with an average of 92.4 mph, was up 2.2 mph from last season.
“All the fans, all the support really encouraged me and pushed me to perform at my best ability,” Yamamoto said.
This was also a continuation for Yamamoto, who pitched the Dodgers to four postseason victories
Dodger pitching was outstanding up and down the line. Four pitchers followed Yamamoto — Anthony Banda (retired all three batters he faced), Ben Casparius (retired all three), Blake Treinen (retired three of four) and Tanner Scott (retired all three).
Ian Happ’s leadoff single in the third inning was the Cubs’ final hit of the game. They were 0-for-21 from there. Dodger pitching allowed five hard-hit balls in the game.
History Makers
The game featured the first matchup of Japanese-born starting pitchers on a Major League Opening Day in Yamamoto vs. Imanaga.
Yamamoto, the three time Eiji Sawamura Award winner and three-time Pacific League MVP in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, was pitching for his first time in Japan since joining the Dodgers in 2024.
Ohtani also played in his first game as a Major Leaguer in Japan. He went 2-for-5 with a double, a single and two runs scored. He scored on a Hernández ninth-inning single.
“It’s been a while since I felt actually this nervous playing a game,” Ohtani said. “In that sense, the first couple of at-bats I need some time to adjust. But glad I was able to make the adjustments later in the game.”
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The Dodgers are the only Major League team to win a game in six different countries. They now own wins in the United States, Canada, Australia, Mexico, South Korea and Japan.
Roki Sasaki makes his highly anticipated Major League debut for the Dodgers on Wednesday in the second and final game of the Tokyo Series.
Freeman and Betts out of Action
Freddie Freeman was originally in the lineup but was a late scratch due to left rib discomfort.
“As I understand it, it was the same rib that affected him during the postseason,” Roberts said. “Not as severe. I thought we made the right decision not playing him tonight, and we’ll see how he comes in tomorrow. So right now, I’m not too concerned.”
Mookie Betts, who has been battling a virus and lost nearly 15 pounds, was sent back to Los Angeles to recover.
Opening Day in Tokyo looks like a continuation for Yamamoto and Dodger offense was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.