Dodgers vs. Cubs live updates: Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto shine in opening win

TOKYO — When Roki Sasaki signed with the Dodgers, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed that one of Sasaki’s goals was to become the first Japanese pitcher to win a Cy Young Award.

Another pitcher on the Dodgers could steal that distinction from Sasaki, and the most likely candidate might not even be Shohei Ohtani.

⚾ Dodgers 4, Cubs 1 — FINAL

The Dodgers extended their lead off former Dodger Ryan Brasier thanks to Shohei Ohtani, who doubled to lead off the frame. He moved to third on a fielder’s choice by Tommy Edman before Teoscar Hernández drove him in with a single to left. Will Smith walked before Max Muncy struck out and Kiké Hernández popped out to short right field.

Left-hander Tanner Scott picked up his first save in his Dodgers debut, working a 1-2-3 inning that included a flyout by former Dodger Justin Turner for the second out.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 1 — Eighth inning

Michael Conforto hit a one-out double for his first hit with the Dodgers, but Miguel Rojas grounded out to second and Andy Pages struck out to strand Conforto at third base.

Blake Treinen came on for the eighth and struck out Miguel Amaya before hitting Jon Berti with a pitch. After Berti stole second, Treinin struck out Ian Happ and retired Seiya Suzuki on a lineout to third. For Suzuki, who is 0 for 4 today, that’s the third bat he’s broken in this game. He struck out looking in his other at-bat.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 1 — Seventh inning

Not much doing for the Dodgers outside of a two-out walk by Will Smith.

Meanwhile, right-hander Ben Casparius — he’s just Ben to some — pitched a 1-2-3 inning as he came on in relief of left-hander Anthony Banda, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 1 — Sixth inning

The Dodgers put two runners on base with two outs, but after Andy Pages drew a four-pitch walk, Shohei Ohtani struck out on three pitches against Cubs reliever Ben Brown.

Left-hander Anthony Banda came on in relief of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and recorded a 1-2-3 inning as both starters are out of this historic contest — the first time two Japanese pitchers squared off on opening day.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched five innings, allowing one run and three hits and striking out four on 72 pitches. Shota Imanaga pitched four hitless innings, allowing four walks while throwing 69 pitches.

⚾ Dodgers 3, Cubs 1 — Fifth inning

The Dodgers finally recorded their first hits of the game, coming to life with the bats off Cubs reliever Ben Brown, to take the lead.

Andy Pages drew a one-out walk and Shohei Ohtani singled to right to move Pages to second. Tommy Edman jumped on the first pitch and laced a single to left to drive in Pages. Teoscar Hernández grounded into a fielder’s choice, with Ohtani coming around to score after Jon Berti threw the ball away trying to complete the double play. Will Smith singled to left to drive in Hernández. Max Muncy struck out to end the inning.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto recorded two outs on two pitches, on hard grounders to shortstop and first base, before striking out Ian Happ to complete five innings on 72 pitches. He has allowed one run on three hits and recorded four strikeouts. He’s retired nine in a row.

⚾ Cubs 1, Dodgers 0 — Fourth inning

The Dodgers worked a pair of walks but once again, could not bring home a run as they remain without a hit so far. Teoscar Hernández led off with a walk, Will Smith popped out to second and Max Muncy walked on a full count. After Kiké Hernández flied out to deep center — allowing Teoscar Hernández to advance to third — Michael Conforto flied out to left.

Shota Imanaga threw 69 pitches in four innings and was lifted for the fifth.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto had his first 1-2-3 inning, recording two strikeouts (of Matt Shaw and Dansby Swanson) before Pete Crow-Armstrong grounded out to shortstop. Yamamoto has thrown 63 pitches through his four innings of work.

⚾ Cubs 1, Dodgers 0 — Third inning

Shota Imanaga worked a 1-2-3 inning on 15 pitches, striking out Andy Pages, getting Shohei Ohtani to line out to second and inducing a groundout to third by Tommy Edman.

After Ian Happ reached on an infield single, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got Seiya Suzuki to ground out to third, then got Kyle Tucker and Michael Bush to both ground out to second, stranding Happ at third base at the end of the inning.

Imanaga is at 49 pitches through three innings and has recorded two strikeouts to go with the two walks he allowed in the second inning.

Yamamoto has thrown 52 pitches and has allowed one run and three hits to go with one walk and one strikeout.

⚾ Cubs 1, Dodgers 0 — Second inning

The Dodgers made Shota Imanaga work after he sailed through the first inning on nine pitches, but they could not cash in. Will Smith and Max Muncy drew walks to open the frame, but then Kiké Hernández popped out to first, Michael Conforto popped out to third and Miguel Rojas flied out to left.

The Cubs got on the board thanks to a two-out double by Miguel Amaya that drove in Dansby Swanson, who singled with one out and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice.

Imanaga has thrown 35 pitches through two innings, recording one strikeout. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is at 34 pitches through two innings.

⚾ Dodgers 0, Cubs 0 — First inning

The American and Japanese national anthems were played, lineups have been exchanged, and Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga has thrown the first pitch to Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani to start off the 2025 season.

Imanaga made quick work of the Dodgers’ revised lineup in the top of the first, inducing Ohtani to ground out to second, getting Tommy Edman to pop out to first and striking out Teoscar Hernández — all on nine pitches.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto allowed a leadoff walk to Ian Happ but then Seiya Suzuki lined out softly to shortstop, Kyle Tucker bounced out to Yamamoto and former Dodger Michael Busch flied out to center.

For Yamamoto, a crisp 15-pitch inning and he avoided a repeat of last year’s first start in South Korea, when he lasted only an inning and gave up five runs against the Padres.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are set to start their season in Tokyo, Japan against the Chicago Cubs. Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Harris and columnist Dylan Hernández talk about the atmosphere and expectations the team has.

TOKYO — The Dodgers already knew they’d be without Mookie Betts for this week’s season-opening series in Tokyo.

Less than an hour before first pitch on Tuesday, however, another superstar hitter was knocked out of the lineup.

Freddie Freeman was scratched from the Dodgers’ opening day lineup with what the team described as left rib discomfort.

Freeman battled a rib injury during last year’s postseason, in addition to a sprained ankle that required offseason surgery. But it wasn’t immediately clear if Tuesday’s issue was related.

With Freeman out, the Dodgers slid Kiké Hernández to first base and inserted Michael Conforto into left field.

Conforto had originally been on the bench to start the game, in favor of Hernández in left field, to avoid a left-on-left matchup against Cubs starter Shota Imanaga.

TOKYO — They screamed.

They screamed and made that noise that crowds make when thousands of people scream at the same time, that sound that is heard when the home team takes a lead late in a playoff game.

Shohei Ohtani had taken the field — for a workout.

“That,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, “was a pretty cool moment for all of us to witness.”

Twenty-eight days later, the Dodgers have packed up and left Camelback Ranch to embark on their World Series championship defense.

Their first stop: Japan, with the team flying out Wednesday ahead of its season-opening two-game series against the Chicago Cubs next week at the Tokyo Dome.

Because of that schedule quirk, the Dodgers’ spring schedule was abbreviated again. But even in just four weeks, much emerged about the state of the team.

As the club prepares to begin the season, here are five takeaways on how things went in camp.

TOKYO — For much of the last two years, the Dodgers have felt like Major League Baseball’s Team of Japan.

They signed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. They struck advertising deal after advertising deal with some of the country’s biggest companies. All of their games are now shown on Japanese television. Team officials have stated their mission to “paint Japan blue” and become the nation’s most popular MLB team.

But this week, over their first 24 hours in Tokyo for a season-opening trip, they got to actually feel what being Japan’s team is like.

RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan — Other than the concrete skeletal remains of a three-story office supply store, there was nothing on the expansive field.

Just acres and acres of dried grass.

As he was about to drive by the abandoned building, Masahiro Osada pointed to the area on the other side of the two-lane road.

“My restaurant was there,” he said in Japanese.

With his right index finger, Osada drew an imaginary line across his windshield.

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“There was a road here,” he said. “Roki’s house was 30 or 40 meters down.”

On a day that came to be known as 3.11 — March 11, 2011 — more than 80% of the homes in this remote seaside community were destroyed by a tsunami, including that house.

The nine-year-old boy who lived there, Roki Sasaki, survived. His father, Kota, didn’t.

With his mother and two brothers, Sasaki moved to the nearby city of Ofunato. There, he became nationally famous by breaking Shohei Ohtani’s record for the fastest pitch ever clocked by a Japanese high school pitcher. He was later drafted by the Chiba Lotte Marines, for whom he pitched a perfect game. This winter, he signed with the Dodgers. On Wednesday, the 23-year-old right-hander is scheduled to make his major league debut in the second game of his team’s season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome.

Dodgers pitchers Roki Sasaki, left, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto wave to fans as they are introduced before an exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

His stage is now global but the people don’t think of him as a distant figure, even though he hasn’t resided here in more than 14 years. Rather than distance himself from his painful memories in Rikuzentakata, Sasaki has taken a proactive approach to preserve his more pleasant recollections of his countryside upbringing.

Sasaki returns every winter to hang out with old friends, to order his favorite tan tan noodles at Osada’s new restaurant, to work out on the baseball field at the city’s sports complex.

Locals call this place Takata for short. Sasaki calls it furusato — his hometown.

Sasaki’s father, Kota, was well-liked around Rikuzentakata.

“He was very kind,” Osada said. “He was always smiling.”

Osada was a close friend.

They vacationed together. They snowboarded together. They helped stage the city’s annual Tanabata festival in the summer together.

Kota was handy and worked at a nearby funeral home.

“When something in the restaurant was broken, he would fix it right away,” Osada said.

Almost every day, Osada used to see Kota in the front yard playing catch with his three boys. Kota knew his middle son, Roki, was special. In moments of drunken revelry, Kota used to boast to Osada that Roki was a future pro.

When Roki was eight years old, he joined the same baseball team as his older brother, Ryuki, who was three years his senior.

The team was coached by the current president of Sasaki’s 1,500-member city-sponsored fan club, Tomoyuki Murakami, a government official who was once a player for the only Takata High team to qualify for the national Koshien tournament.

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“He already knew how to play catch,” Murakami said. “I didn’t have to teach him much.”

In November of that year, Murakami had Sasaki pitch for the first time. Sasaki was a third grader. His opponents were fourth and fifth graders.

Sasaki retired the side.

Four months later, everything changed.

Residents here received constant warnings about natural disasters throughout their childhoods.

Rikuzentakata borders Hirota Bay and is therefore susceptible to tsunamis. The city had an evacuation plan, but Murakami said it assumed only about 50 centimeters, or about 20 inches, of water would reach the front of city hall.

What came was something of an entirely different scale.

Osada was near the coastline working out with his son when the earth started to violently shake. The magnitude 9.1 earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, lasted six minutes.

Sirens blared, instructing residents to evacuate to higher ground, but Osada returned to his neighborhood in search of his daughter.

There, he saw Kota.

“Our eyes met,” Osada said.

Osada and his son received a phone call from his daughter, who informed them that she was at a nearby middle school. Osada packed his family in his car and drove to safety.

“If we had continued looking for her, we probably wouldn’t have made it either,” Osada said.

Osada never saw his friend again.

People stand among the rubble in Rikuzentakata in April 2011, a month after the town was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami.

(Sergey Ponomarev / Associated Press)

Rikuzentakata’s old city hall building used to be within a short walk of the Sasaki residence. Murakami and other city officials were trained to evacuate to the second floor, but the 40-foot wall of water that Murakami saw approaching was threatening to swallow the entire three-story structure.

“When we reached the roof,” he said, “there was already water there.”

Murakami scaled a small structure on the roof and pulled other city workers to safety, including the mayor. Right in front of them was another government three-story building.

“Most of the employees who ran in there didn’t make it,” Murakami said.

The exceptions were a couple of workers who reached the third floor and kept their heads in a small space under the ceiling and above the water surface. Murakami said he heard that when the water receded, the remains of the victims became visible.

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Murakami told this story while seated in a conference room in Rikuzentakata’s current city headquarters.

He said of Sasaki: “He was here. Right below us is where the schoolyard used to be.”

Sasaki and other students at Takata Elementary School were gathered outside of their classrooms.

They were saved by an unidentified worker from a nearby business. The man was bleeding from his head, the result of being struck by an object that dropped from a store shelf, according to Nikkan Sports, which recently published an interview with him.

“You’re going to die!” the man screamed. “Run away! Run!”

The children obeyed.

A tsunami inundation sign is seen in March 2021 at an area destroyed by the 2011 tsunami in Rikuzentakata in which more than 1,700 people died in the town.

(Eugene Hoshiko / Associated Press)

“This was as far as the tsunami came,” Murakami said. “It didn’t go any farther. So if you ran just a little, you were safe.”

Sasaki’s mother, Yoko, told Nikkan Sports in 2019 that she was in Ofunato for work when the tsunami struck. She was unable to communicate with her sons, who spent the night together in a temporary shelter.

Yoko cried when she was reunited with her three boys the next day, according to the newspaper. She took them to a relative’s home in Ofunato.

Five days later, she received a phone call.

“They found him?” she asked.

In the same interview with Nikkan Sports, Yoko described how Roki’s eyes widened when overhearing her. He didn’t understand what the word “found” implied. He was nine years old.

Overlooking Sasaki’s old neighborhood, there is a memorial for the 1,709 people who lost their lives in the tsunami, each of their names carved into black granite. The name on the second row of the 24th column listing the victims from the 16th ward: Kota Sasaki.

Kota wasn’t the only member of the household who perished. Kota’s parents — Roki’s grandparents — were also killed.

In Rikuzentakata, a memorial for the 1,709 people who lost their lives in the tsunami features each of their names carved into black granite, including Roki Sasaki’s father, Kota.

(Dylan Hernández / Los Angeles Times)

The memorial is near a bus station, which provides the city of about 18,000 residents with its only mode of public transportation. Ritsuzentakata’s train station was never replaced.

The wreckage, and its aftermath, shaped Sasaki as a person.

“Everything that I have now can disappear in an instant,” Sasaki said in 2020. “As a person who is alive, I think I have to do my best to live on the behalf of people who lost their lives.”

Murakami kept an eye from a distance on Sasaki, who moved to Ofunato with his mother and two siblings after the disaster. Murakami lost a son and his mother, but he continued to coach his older son. There were times their team played against Sasaki’s.

“He should be our ace,” Murakami recalled thinking with a chuckle.

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Yoshihiro Matsumoto, an employee at Rikuzentakata’s sporting goods store, sensed early on that Sasaki could follow Ohtani and Yusei Kikuchi as the Iwate prefecture’s next superstar.

Matsumoto maintained the glove of Sasaki’s batterymate at Ofunato High.

Most catchers replaced the laces on their mitts every six months. Sasaki’s replaced his every two.

In the first month of his final year of high school in 2019, Sasaki was invited to train with Japan’s junior national team. He threw a fastball that was registered at 163 kilometers per hour — or about 101 mph.

The previous high-school record, set by Ohtani, was 160 kilometers per hour — about 99 mph.

Suddenly, Sasaki was more than the country’s No. 1 prospect. He was on the radar of major league teams, including the Dodgers. He earned the nickname “Reiwa no Kaibutsu,” or “Monster of the Reiwa Era,” signaling the widespread belief that he was a generational talent.

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But most of all, he was a symbol of the entire Tohoku region’s recovery.

“I think he’s become something like a treasure of Takata,” Osada said. “He’s given people courage.”

He was a fellow tsunami survivor, only he was about to take on the world.

On his way back to Ofunato from that national-team camp, Sasaki dropped by Shikairo, Osada’s Chinese restaurant. Osada rebuilt the eatery on higher ground, near the location of the old city hall. Osada hadn’t seen Sasaki since the tsunami but he recognized his mother.

A bowl of tan tan ramen at a restaurant Roki Sasaki goes to every time he visits Rikuzentakata. Masahiro Osada, the owner of the restaurant who was friends with Sasaki’s father, said the origins of the dish were inspired by Kota Sasaki.

(Dylan Hernández / Los Angeles Times)

Sasaki became an occasional visitor. He remained a customer even after he was drafted in the first round by the Marines in 2019, Osada sneaking the budding national celebrity into a VIP room through a back door. Osada rarely spoke to him about baseball, instead sharing with him stories about his father.

Osada smiled as he recalled the origins of his signature tan tan noodles.

Kota used to like the tan tan hot pot, which contained meats and vegetables. Osada was drinking with Kota one night when he noticed spicy broth remained at the bottom of the otherwise empty pot.

“Should we put something in this and eat it?” Osada asked.

Osada boiled noodles. He prepared tofu. He dumped the ingredients in the pot.

To this day, Sasaki orders the dish every time he visits.

Murakami was uncertain of how Sasaki viewed Rikuzentakata. He gained clarity in early 2022, when Sasaki was entering his third season with the Marines. The then-20-year-old Sasaki was approaching his seijinshiki, a coming-of-age ceremony staged by local governments to celebrate legal adulthood. Sasaki’s mother called the Rikuzentakata’s mayor and asked if her son could attend the event staged by the city.

Ofunato’s ceremony was in the afternoon and Ritsuzentaka’s was in the morning, creating a chance for Sasaki to attend both.

Roki Sasaki pitches for the Chiba Lotte Marines during a 2024 game against the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters.

(Ryoichiro Kida / Associated Press)

“I lived half of the time in both places,” Sasaki told reporters at the time. “Both are special places packed with memories.”

Murakami approached Sasaki on the day of the event.

“I thought he might’ve forgotten me,” Murakami said, “but he remembered.”

Murakami continued, “I figured he considered Ofunato to be his hometown. But after he became a pro, I started feeling more and more that he also thought of Rikuzentakata as his hometown.”

Despite the horrifying memories of the tsunami, Murakami said he understands why Sasaki visits Rikuzentakata as often as he does.

“This is where he lived with his dad, grandpa and grandma,” Murakami said. “I think he doesn’t want to forget that.”

When Sasaki earned his first career victory with the Marines in 2021, he was asked what he wanted to do with the game ball.

“I want to hand it to my parents,” Sasaki said.

The specific word he used for parents was ryoshin — both parents.

In November, before traveling to Los Angeles to take meetings with major league teams, Sasaki worked out in Rikuzentakata for about a week, reserving time at the local baseball field under a friend’s name. Each day, he went to Shikairo for lunch and again for dinner.

Rikuzentakata’s city hall features a banner that reads “Major (league) challenge! Fly out into the world, Roki Sasaki!”

(Dylan Hernández / Los Angeles Times)

Murakami, who said he views Sasaki through “the eyes of a parent,” encouraged his former player to sign with the San Diego Padres so that he could learn from Yu Darvish.

Murakami said of Sasaki’s eventual choice of the Dodgers, “He will be on television more. It makes it easier to cheer him on.”

Rikuzentakata will host a small viewing party for Sasaki’s scheduled start on Wednesday, even though showing the game in public for 50 or 60 people will set back the municipality 150,000 yen — or about $1,000.

“Since I turned pro, there were times things didn’t go well,” Sasaki said. “They continued to cheer me on with the same level of passion and that’s provided me with emotional support. I’d like to express my appreciation with my play.”

His birthplace remains firm in its support of him.

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“You can do it!” read a series of Sasaki-themed flags that can be found around town, everywhere from the front of the fishing goods store to inside of the city museum.

There is a banner that hangs from the middle of the seven-story city hall building that reads, “Major (league) challenge! Fly out into the world, Roki Sasaki!”

The people here know he will be back.

For the first time this season, Dodgers fans can stream SportsNet LA without needing to buy something else they might not want.

Spectrum is offering a streaming-only subscription to the Dodgers’ television channel for $29.99 per month or $199.99 per year, the company announced Monday. The service will be in place when the Dodgers open their season Tuesday in Japan (3 a.m. PDT).

The streaming service will be called SNLA+ and will be offered in partnership with Major League Baseball, which will provide the technology and carry the service on MLB.com and the MLB app. SNLA+ subscriptions are only available in the Dodgers’ local television market.

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TOKYO — Years from now, people who were at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday will tell their children and grandchildren about the night. People who weren’t here will too.

Their memories of specific details of the Dodgers’ 5-1 victory over the Yomiuri Giants will gradually erode with time. Their memories of how they felt at that moment won’t.

When Shohei Ohtani launched a ball halfway up the right-field stands.

When Ohtani rounded the bases and performed the variation of the Freddie Freeman dance that has become the Dodgers’ home-run celebration.

TOKYO — Andrew Friedman remembers the talent, the crowd and maybe most of all, the hats.

In February 2023, in the lead-up to the most anticipated World Baseball Classic to date, the Dodgers president of baseball operations accompanied team scouts and executives on a trip to Japan to get an in-person look at the nation’s Samurai Japan national team.

For years the Dodgers had been scouting the improving talent coming out of the country, recognizing that a pipeline of potential major league stars was being cultivated in its rich baseball culture.

The smile got a little bigger, the emotions a little deeper, the meaning a little greater the more Dave Roberts looked around the room.

In the wake of last year’s World Series title, in which Roberts led the Dodgers to the second championship of his decorated tenure, the veteran manager spent weeks basking in the triumph. He sprayed champagne in the Bronx. He danced with Ice Cube the day of the parade. He rejoiced with friends and family who watched him endure a season he described as “the most trying” of his nine years with the Dodgers, but also “the most satisfying.”

Then, he got an invitation he never expected.

In early December, Roberts returned to the place of his birth, traveling to the Japanese city of Naha on the small Pacific island of Okinawa to receive an official recognition from the municipality’s local government.

Fans are already gathering outside Tokyo Dome roughly four hours before the start of the Major League Baseball season opener between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

Some fans are embracing their inner Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and even Decoy as they get hyped for the game.

TOKYO — Mookie Betts’ return to shortstop will have to wait until the Dodgers return home from Japan.

Betts will miss both of the Dodgers’ season-opening games at the Tokyo Dome this week against the Chicago Cubs, manager Dave Roberts said Monday, as he continues to recover from a stomach virus that has kept him out of action since last weekend.

Betts is expected to be ready for the Dodgers’ domestic home opener on March 27 against the Detroit Tigers. But in the meantime, Roberts said the Dodgers are “contemplating” sending him back home to Los Angeles early, before the team departs following Wednesday’s second game against the Cubs.

TOKYO — Maybe the Hanshin Tigers are baseball’s real evil empire.

One day after the Japanese team, which plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, shut out the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition contest at the Tokyo Dome, they did the same Sunday with a 3-0 win over the defending World Series champion Dodgers — and their nearly $400-million roster — in what was the Dodgers’ final tuneup before their season-opening series here against the Cubs.

TOKYO — It was the overriding theme of last October, an intangible factor that yielded triumphant results.

During their run to last year’s World Series, the Dodgers repeatedly cited their clubhouse culture and roster-wide camaraderie as a key behind their postseason success. They knew it sounded cliche. But they felt it was transformational.

Thus, during this week’s season-opening trip to Japan, when their title defense will begin with a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Tokyo Dome, the Dodgers have been intentional about forming similarly tight bonds again.