Dodgers vs. Cubs preview
The 2025 MLB season gets underway at 6:10 a.m. ET on Tuesday March 18 with the Tokyo Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. Much like last year, the Dodgers begin the season in Asia, but they played against the Padres last season in the Seoul Series, so it will be Chicago’s first visit across the Pacific Ocean.
The teams played a couple of exhibition games on Saturday and Sunday against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants to get in a couple of final tune-ups for the first two games that will count in the standings. Opening Day in the U.S. is Thursday March 27, so the teams will come back to the States and play a few more Spring Training games before getting back into the regular season.
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Let’s take a look at the “Opening Day” matchup and what we can potentially expect.
How To Watch MLB Tokyo Series Dodgers vs. Cubs
How: FOX
When: Tuesday March 18, 6:10 a.m. ET
Where: Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Dome
Dodgers vs. Cubs MLB Betting Odds
Dodgers: -175
Cubs: +145
Total: 8.5 (-105/-115)
Odds current from DraftKings at time of publish
Dodgers Season Preview | Cubs Season Preview | Dodgers vs. Cubs Matchup
Dodgers vs. Cubs MLB Preview Tokyo Series Game 1
This will be a very special and very emotional start to the season for everybody, but especially four key players from the two teams, including both starting pitchers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto gets the start for the Dodgers and Shota Imanaga gets the ball for the Cubs and they will face Shohei Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki in the opposing lineup.
Ohtani played for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters from 2013-17 before signing with the Angels. Suzuki played with the Hiroshima Carp from 2013-21 before signing with the Cubs. Yamamoto played the Orix Buffaloes from the time he was 18 until coming to the U.S. for the 2024 season. Imanaga was a member of the Yokohama Bay Stars until making his MLB debut last season. It is also a big series for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Japan and his mother is Japanese.
In four Spring Training starts, Yamamoto has given up six runs on 15 hits in 13 innings of work with a 14/3 K/BB ratio. His first MLB season featured a lot of missed time, as he only made 18 starts over 90 innings, with an IL stint that lasted about three months from mid-June to mid-September. He came back and made three starts prior to the postseason, where he had a 3.86 ERA over 18.2 innings of work, including a stellar start in the World Series.
According to the MLB.com game logs, Yamamoto was stretched out to 75 pitches in his March 10 outing against the Diamondbacks, where he allowed one run on four hits with seven strikeouts over five innings. We’ll see if he has that level of pitch efficiency against a full-fledged MLB lineup, as the D-Backs only had a few regulars out there, though Corbin Carroll was one of them.
Imanaga has allowed seven runs on nine hits in 11 innings this Spring with a 13/2 K/BB ratio. He has allowed three home runs, as he’s a bit of a fly ball guy pitching in the tough conditions of the Cactus League. He, too, threw 75 pitches in his final tune-up against the Guardians on the 10th, allowing four runs on four hits in 4.1 innings of work. He gave up two homers in the second inning, including a three-run shot by Juan Brito, as the Guardians sent out most of their regulars.
As we know, pitchers are not fully stretched out this early in the preparation process, so you’ll see the prop odds adjusted. Both pitchers are heavily juiced to “No” on the “To Record A Win” prop, as making it through five innings is much more difficult this early in the season. Imanaga’s Outs Recorded prop is 14.5. Yamamoto’s is around there as well.
As far as the lineups go, the Cubs added Kyle Tucker from the Astros this offseason and reworked their entire bench, while the Dodgers picked up Michael Conforto. Nico Hoerner will miss the start of the season for Chicago as he returns from flexor tendon surgery. The Dodgers are healthy on the position player side as they run it back with most of last season’s championship offense. All of their injuries – and there are a ton of them – are on the pitching side.
Personally, I would tread lightly with these Tokyo games, just as I did last year with the games in Seoul. My guess is that if you take the underdog Cubs in both games, you’ll come out ahead, as I envision a split at worst for Chicago. There’s nothing scientific or in the numbers behind that, just that the Cubs are a solid team and Imanaga and Wednesday’s starter Justin Steele are very good as everybody tries to get into good form.
One prop I like is Yamamoto Over 3.5 Hits Allowed at -140. In his Spring Training starts, he’s struggled to throw first-pitch strikes, coming in at 43.6%. He’s given up a lot of ground balls and line drives and a ton of pull-side contact with a Pull% of 47.7% on 38 batted ball events. He gave up a 41.3% Hard Hit% last season. Pitchers are still working through some things and figuring out their command, so I could see the Cubs getting some hits in this one. By Stuff+, Yamamoto actually has a poor fastball and I’m not sure how many splitters and sliders he’ll be throwing this early in the process.
Dodgers vs. Cubs Tokyo Series Game 1 Predictions
Lean: Cubs +145
Pick: Yoshinobu Yamamoto Over 3.5 Hits Allowed (-140)
