With regular season baseball just over the horizon, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Tokyo Series Game 1:
While it doesn’t actually occur until early tomorrow morning, by this time tomorrow the 2025 campaign will officially be underway! The Tokyo Series, a two-game set between the Dodgers and Cubs hosted at the Tokyo Dome in Japan, will kick off at 5:10am CT (3:10am PT) tomorrow morning. Early risers who want to catch the first regular season game of the year will be able to tune in on FOX tomorrow morning, while locals to Chicago and Los Angeles respectively can find the game on Marquee Sports Network and Sportsnet L.A. as per usual for in-market Cubs and Dodgers broadcasts.
Both the Cubs and Dodgers will send Japanese-born players to the mound in their home country to start Game 1, with Chicago southpaw Shota Imanaga (2.91 ERA in 2024) taking on prized Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3.00 ERA in 2024). Both clubs will be down a key piece of their middle infield for the series as well, with the Dodgers sitting star shortstop Mookie Betts due to illness while Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner has continued rehabbing from offseason flexor tendon surgery at the club’s spring facility in Arizona while the rest of the club is overseas for this week’s series. Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas are the top candidates to fill in for Betts at short with the Dodgers, while Jon Berti and Gage Workman could both be called upon to take Hoerner’s place in the Cubs lineup.
2. Strider returns to action:
Star right-hander Spencer Strider missed almost the entire 2024 regular season while rehabbing surgery an internal brace surgery on his UCL. While the right-hander will not be ready in time to make Atlanta’s Opening Day roster, he’s far enough along in his rehab to make his Grapefruit League debut in a start against the Red Sox this afternoon. Scheduled to take on left-hander Shane Drohan in a 1:05pm local time game at Atlanta’s spring facility in North Port, if Strider’s start today goes well and he continues on his current track, there now appears to be a good chance he’ll return to action ahead of schedule, perhaps missing only the regular season’s first couple of weeks.
3. Lewis undergoing testing:
Perhaps the most notable news from the weekend was the latest injury suffered by Twins third baseman Royce Lewis. The first overall pick of the 2017 draft has been plagued by frequent and lengthy absences due to injuries over the past half decade, and despite making his big league debut early in the 2022 season he has just 152 career MLB games under his belt. Lewis appeared set to finally have the first mostly normal offseason and Spring Training of his big league career this year, but unfortunately those hopes were dashed yesterday when he was pulled from the club’s game against the Red Sox due to a hamstring issue.
Lewis is set to undergo testing to determine the severity of the issue (and his timetable for return to action) today, but even a mild hamstring strain for a player with his history of lower half injuries will likely be approached with caution. While Lewis is out of commission, Jose Miranda and Willi Castro appear to be the most likely candidates to step in at third base.
Let’s all celebrate that the long, long wait for baseball is almost over!
Still don’t like that it starts at 6am on a Tuesday across the ocean. Then we wait a week …
Hard pass on the Japan opener for me.
Why, pray tell?
My Dodger hate is global.
Some folks are winners. Some are whiners.
Not a cub fan, to say the least, but I love baseball so I’ll be watching at least some of it, until I fall back to sleep.
Winners and whiners great site
Roid – Think for a minute.
If the games are broadcast in the US starting at 7PM-9PM EST, that would be 8AM-10AM Tokyo time. Why on Earth would they start major sporting events there at that time?
And other than Cubs/Dodgers fans, who is waiting? All 28 other teams are starting their season next weekend, as always.
I wasn’t saying start them at an inconvenient time in Tokyo. The day,time and location issues are inclusive of one another. I was suggesting to start them all the same week at 15 different major league stadiums in North America…
And, Baseball fans are waiting…
Roid – Oh, yeah that would probably work if you have the two games Sunday/Monday US time and then pick up the schedule Friday. But the union probably wouldn’t allow it, they’d claim players need more than 3 full days rest.
I can’t agree or disagree because I’ve never flown far enough for an 11-hour time difference.
This baseball fan is waiting for 6:10 AM ET.
@FPG Someone is always going to complain. Remember when NYY and BOS games used to start at 8:05pm/8:10pm? I could never finish the games because I needed to go to bed for an early rise.
Not gonna totally disagree…cup of coffee with live baseball can be pretty sweet…
YBC – I remember it well. And back then both teams took a ton of pitches, so 4-hour games were the norm.
It was a good way to score tickets for SNB, but getting home at 2AM on a workday was not fun.
You should, expand your horizons some
Minor inconvenience for 2 teams when the owners and players would both like to see increased infusion of money from countries that culturally love the game w/o having to be sold on it. Selling the league in this case. Perhaps qualify statement as those players who haven’t already locked in their significant l-t guaranteed deal. Arb and pre-arb players should embrace it to bolster its paydays to whatever degree these showcases help.
Even worse, 5:00AM here
It’s like people don’t realize you can now tape things and watch them at your own convenience, or watch in the archives of MLB TV 😉 (tip: hide scores to avoid spoilers!)
some people just like to complain. the subject is irrelevant.
Tape? Hah-ha. Now tell us something we need to know.
Alas, the subject here is relevant…
You should hear the sound fidelity on my reel-to-reel. It’s far out.
And you should see the video on my Betamax. Best tape ever!
Betamax is SO 1986 grandpa…let me introduce you to a Laser Disc Player. This IS the FUTURE. And the laser discs themselves are so sleek & eye-catching.
Sadly, as a Yomiuri Giants fan, I must say that the Hanshin Tigers are ranked #1 in Global Baseball Power Rankings. MLB sent their best team to play them and couldn’t even score a single run against the Tigers. Not looking good for the Dodgers or MLB this year.
WOAH! That’s a bold conclusion to make from one game…
@letsgooakland123
HAOW! That’s a bold conclusion to make about one comment…
AHWO! That’s a bold conclusion to make from one word…
lol, if you think one exhibition baseball game shows who is a better team, you don’t really understand baseball.
@freddiemeetgibby
Agreed, I don’t really understand baseball.
Apparently.
Evidently
Yeah, old. This is why it is called spring training. Good lord!
People are going to think you’re serious lol
@CC Ryder
No worries. I insulted myself above, so I hope that paints the sarcastic manner of the post.
Under this administration sarcasm is no longer tolerated. Please come with us to be processed for detention.
@DroppedThirdStrike
Yes, sir!
Roof over my head and three square meals a day. Nice!
Humor is improving. It’s just those who dish it out can’t take it.
Shirley you can’t be serious
Yorky you should consider changing your moniker to “Sarcastic Son of a b” (I won’t charge any royalties).
Why stop there? We all need an MCU of monikers- Surly son of a b, Sleepy son of a b, Stoner son of a b, Drunk Fat and Stupid son of a b. A veritable Animal house
Now we’re talking.
A week long vacation in Japan for a couple extra off-days during a grueling 181 day season seems like a pretty good deal for the players. That and showcasing in Japan is a good way to expand the game. That’s a nice thing going that MLB has set up.
Spending that much time traveling is not a vacation.
It’s not that bad traveling, they’re likely first class luxury charter w hookers and blow. It not like theyre flying the rear of Southwest coach in front of the lavatories
Hoping to hear good news on Mookie and Schmidt today, both recent draft picks. I grabbed Sugano in one league in case Clarke hits the shelf.
My own league’s draft is tonight, wish me luck!
Good luck.
Good luck. Keep ’em guessing. Draft in a crafty manner.
Our draft was on Sat. Would love to compare notes on peoples surprise draft pickups. For example, I ended up w Luke Weaver. Thoughts?
My only rules/insights:
1-It almost doesn’t matter where you draft catchers. Rutschman was #1 and had 19 HRs and 1 SB. Stephenson was #11 with the same stats.
2-If, and it’s a big if, Ohtani pitches this year, he won’t DH on any of his starts. He won’t get 32 starts, but if he did, you’d miss 20% of this season’s ABs. And his pitching injury risk has to be added to his hitting risk. If he misses a pitching start, he might also miss five hitting starts.
Good call on catchers. Langeliers and Jeffers. Just need two serviceable to be par for the course. Had Ohtani the last 3 years and always finished in the back half.
I think my best grab last night was Strider. I was getting sniped constantly, so I’m not 100% feeling the team yet, but I’m a better in season manager than drafter.
Baseball for breakfast
Breakfast in America with Supertramp!
The roster issues are confusing and have been poorly reported on. For instance: the Cubs active roster stands at 31–but they are not the 31 who are in Japan. Three rostered players did not go to Japan: Assad, Hoerner, and Thompson. Three non-rostered players ARE in Japan–McGuire, Keller, and Shaw. So there are still 34 players “in camp.” Do the Cubs thus need to make 8 cuts by tomorrow–or do they need to make five, with Assad, Hoerner and Thompson allowed to be in limbo for a few more days? Is it, as a practical matter, that they only have to decide which 26 to “dress” for the Tokyo games? Or will the Cubs be playing a man short because Hoerner is on the active roster, but not in Tokyo? This is all quite confusing, and the media have not done a good job of clarifying.
That is what happens when you have an opener in name only.
Robby the robot can screw up a soup sandwich.
I hear ya: Robby the Robot always messin up my Panera order, but he means well and hard to be cross w a chap w a British accent, like that adorable cartoon geicko
It’s essentially the 26 man roster plus a taxi squad/extended spring training for the rest of them in case someone gets hurt or sick. They pare down the roster before the season games begin. Not too different.
Media could clarify a bit, no doubt.
Assad, Hoerner, and Thompson can be put on the IL and still be available for their US opener on the 28th. Their IL stint would be backdated 3 days from the day the Tokyo Series starts.
And for those of us who don’t want to get up in the middle of the night, the rebroadcast times are when?
Pretty much all day on SportsNet.
I imagine, but what are the start times if you want to watch the games from first pitch? It’s kind of hard to believe that nobody thought it was important for this information to be provided to fans. Did they just assume we’d all be getting up in the middle of the night?
But are dodgers upset that they have to play entire slate of regular season games prior to post season whether starting here or abroad.