Tokyo Series Recap

Whether you missed it or weren't aware, the 2025 MLB regular season is officially underway after the Tokyo Series between the Chicago Cubs and the reigning World Series Champions Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Dodgers played regular-season action in Japan for the first time, but the Cubs have some history. They kicked off the 2000 regular season against the Mets in Tokyo, MLB's first game overseas.

Waking up for a 6 a.m. baseball isn't everybody's priority, so if you missed the games, we've got you covered with some of the topics and storylines from the new season's debut.

Japanese History

Masanori Murakami became the first-born Japanese player to play a game in MLB history in 1964.

Since then, MLB has seen a large amount of players, including some of the game's most favored pitchers: Hideo Nomo, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hiroki Kuroda, Koji Uehara, Masahiro Tanaka, and more recently, Yu Darvish, Kodai Senga, Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga.

Those last two pitchers each earned the Opening Day nod for the Dodgers and Cubs, respectively, and became the fourth and fifth Japanese-born pitchers to appear in a regular season game at the Tokyo Dome.

Despite all the history of Japanese pitchers mentioned earlier, when the two took the mound, it was the first time in MLB history that an Opening Day matchup featured two Japanese-born pitchers.

And the two performed well. Imanaga threw four innings (not uncommon for managers to keep pitchers on a shorter pitch count early in the season) of no-hit baseball with four walks and two strikeouts.

Yamamoto picked up the win, throwing five innings, allowing one earned run on three hits while walking one and striking out four.

Exciting Debuts

The Cubs surprised some people over the offseason when they traded Isaac Paredes to the Houston Astros in exchange for Kyle Tucker. Many didn't expect Chicago to trade their third baseman, but the move opened up a spot in the lineup for rookie Matt Shaw.

Shaw, the former 13th overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft, was fifth in the lineup, playing third base in Tuesday's contest. He went 0-4 with two strikeouts and would have to wait another day to record his first major league hit.

Despite his lack of production at the plate in his first game, Shaw became the youngest Cub in over 30 years to make his MLB debut on Opening Day.

In the bottom of the fifth inning during the second game of the series, Shaw recorded his first hit on a single that deflected off the glove of pitcher Jack Dreyer and later scored.

On the other side of the field, making his MLB debut, was Roki Sasaki, arguably the most sought-after free-agent pitcher this past offseason.

Sasaki pitched only three innings on Wednesday, allowing just one earned run on one hit while striking out three and walking five. He also retired the side in the first inning (Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker) on 11 pitches.

Ohtani went yard… or did he?

Playing in his home country, there wasn't anything he could do to disappoint the fans. Fortunately, Wednesday's crowd saw Ohtani go deep to right-center field for his first home run of 2025.

However, many fans wonder if it should have counted as a home run. An angle of a replay shows that a fan made contact with the ball before it crossed the yellow line on the outfield wall. The call ended up being reviewed and confirmed.

His homer was the second hit by a Japanese player in an MLB regular season game at the Tokyo Dome. The first homer was from the Yankees' Hideki Matsui in 2004.

Without getting too technical with the rules, the brief explanation is that when it comes to fans interfering with a home run, it needs to be determined if it still would have cleared the fence had there been no interference at all.

The call might remind some fans of the Jeffrey Maier incident in Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series with Derek Jeter's controversial home run. However, it was a home run then and a home run today.

Overall, the two-way sensation is 3-for-8 to start his season. While his .375 batting average is built from a small sample size, Ohtani is such a talented player that it may not drop below .300 for the rest of the season.

Firsts of the Year

As discussed earlier, Shota Imanaga was on the mound in the top of the first during the first game of the season and, in the process, also recorded the first strikeout of the year. After getting Ohtani to ground out and Edman to pop out, Imanaga got Hernandez to whiff at a splitter to end the inning.

With one away in the top of the second inning, Dansby Swanson drove Yamamoto's first pitch of the at-bat up the middle for the first base hit of the season. Two batters later, he scored on a double from Miguel Amaya, providing the season's first run.

After nobody did so in the first game, Edman, the 2024 National League Championship Series MVP, faced a full count in the third and sent the next pitch to the left field seats for the first home run of 2025.

The Dodgers Complete the Sweep

Starting with the first game, The Dodgers trailed the Cubs 1-0 entering the fifth inning but put up a three-spot to take the lead. Ohtani's first hit of the year set up two runners in scoring position with one away for Edman, who drove in one with a single.

Teoscar Hernandez grounded into what should've been a double-play, but a wild throw from Jon Berti allowed Ohtani to score and Hernandez to advance to second. He capped off the scoring on a single from Will Smith.

The Cubs had no answer after that, going three-up, three-down in the fifth, sixth and seventh. Hernandez drove in one more run, Tanner Scott recorded the save, and the Dodgers took Game 1 4-1.

In Game 2, the Dodgers scored first courtesy of a wild pitch and a sac fly that put them up 2-0 in the second inning.

In the third, Sasaki gave up a single and allowed three straight walks. The third to Kyle Tucker brought in a run, putting the Cubs on the board still trailing 3-1.

In the next half-inning, however, Max Muncy doubled and Enrique Hernandez went yard to extend their lead 5-1.

Ian Happ recorded an RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth to chip away at the lead, but Ohtani's homer gave it right back to the Dodgers.

Swanson doubled in the fifth, but that would be all she wrote for the Cubs. Alex Vesia recorded the final three outs, and the Dodgers will leave Tokyo with a 2-0 record.

Daniel Studer is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email dbs5866@psu.edu