The Los Angeles Dodgers will begin their quest for back-to-back World Series titles early Tuesday morning when they face off against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan.
First pitch, which is scheduled for 3:10 a.m. in California, will officially begin the 205 MLB Season, ending a months-long drought without “meaningful baseball.” The last time the Boys in Blue took the field was Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, when they wrapped up what was one of the most memorable seasons in franchise history and earned their eighth title.
Japan native Yoshinobu Yamamoto will toe the mound first for the Dodgers, facing off against fellow countryman Shota Imanaga. It will mark the first time in MLB history that an opening day pitching matchup is all-Japanese. The two were teammates on Japan’s 2023 World Baseball Classic winning team, which also featured the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki.
The latter, who the Dodgers inked to a contract in the offseason, is slated to start for Los Angeles in the second game of the series, in which the Dodgers will be the away team.
Sasaki was one of the many high profile additions that the Dodgers made in the months following their World Series win. They also signed left-handed ace Blake Snell to a five-year, $182 million contract, standout relievers Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates and South Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim.
Those adds come just a year after what was inarguably the biggest offseason the team has ever had, highlighted by the Ohtani, Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernández signings and a trade that landed Tyler Glasnow from the Tampa Bay Rays.
All of the previously named Japanese pitchers, plus Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, experienced incredible success playing in Nippon Professional Baseball, the country’s top professional baseball league. Both the Dodgers and Cubs played a series of exhibition games against NPB’s Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers.
On top of all those connections, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also has distinct ties to Japan. He was born in Naha, Okinawa in 1972 to his mother Eiko, an Okinawa native and his father Waymon, who was stationed in Japan with the US Marine Crops.
Manager Dave Roberts #30 of the Los Angeles Dodgers talks to member of press during Los Angeles Dodgers Workouts day at Tokyo Dome on March 17, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. / Getty Images
Last season, his first since leaving Japan, Yamamoto performed exactly as expected, hurling 90 innings to the tune of a 3.00 ERA, 105 strikeouts and a 7-2 record. He made four postseason starts for the Boys in Blue as well, each of which they wound up winning.
Ohtani put together what may be the finest season ever in 2024, when he became the first and only member of the 50 home run and 50 stolen bases club, which made him the clear favorite and eventual winner of his third Most Valuable Player Award. It was his first since he left the Los Angeles Angels, with whom he won the award in 2021 and 2023.
Despite these two games marking the official start of the season, the Dodgers will return to Southern California next week for a three-game series of exhibitions against the Angels, what many know and love as the Freeway Series. Those games will lead up to March 27, when the Dodgers host the Detroit Tigers and the rest of the league begins the 2025 campaign.
If they do pull off their second-straight title, they’ll be the first to do so since the New York Yankees won back-to-back-to-back World Series from 1998 to 2000.
Dean FioresiDean Fioresi is a web producer for CBS Los Angeles. He covers breaking news throughout Southern California. When he’s not writing about local events, he enjoys focusing on sports and entertainment.
