Dodgers vs. Cubs preview
No Mookie Betts? No Freddie Freeman? No problem. The Dodgers’ depth was on full display in the first game of the 2025 MLB regular season, as Los Angeles took down a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs had all three of their hits by the third inning. In fact, after Ian Happ’s third-inning infield single, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the pen got 21 of the next 22 batters out, as a hit by pitch was the only baserunner for the underdogs from the Windy City.
Now we’ve got Game 2 on the horizon, as the Cubs look to avoid going all the way to Japan to get swept and the Dodgers look to begin the year 2-0 to head home and get some R&R before the season really gets underway on March 27.
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Another Japanese pitcher takes the mound today, as phenom Roki Sasaki makes his MLB debut against Cubs southpaw Justin Steele.
How To Watch MLB Tokyo Series Dodgers vs. Cubs
How: FS1
When: Wednesday March 19, 6:10 a.m. ET
Where: Tokyo, Japan at the Tokyo Dome
Dodgers vs. Cubs MLB Betting Odds
Dodgers: -155
Cubs: +130
Total: 8 (-112/-108)
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 2
The courtship of Sasaki was a big storyline during the offseason, as more than two-thirds of the league’s teams made pitches to the 23-year-old right-hander. Sasaki played for the Chiba Lotte Marines and was a dominant high school hurler before going pro. He owns a career 2.02 ERA in 414.2 innings in Japan with 524 strikeouts against 91 walks.
The rookie has only made two Spring Training appearances, throwing three innings on Mar. 4 and four innings on Mar. 11, throwing 87 combined pitches over those two starts. If his pitch efficiency is up to par, and it was in his first two outings with seven strikeouts against three walks, then he has a chance to go three or four innings here. My guess is that the Dodgers have a pretty hard cap of around 50 or 55 pitches here. They’re going to be very careful with their latest prized possession, especially since Sasaki has never thrown more than 129.1 innings in his career and pitchers in Japan are typically on a different start schedule.
Steele was stretched out to 62 pitches in his final Spring tune-up, but he may need some more tuning. He allowed seven runs on 10 hits to the Brewers, who are obviously quite familiar with him. Milwaukee banged out three homers in that one. To Justin’s credit, he has 10 strikeouts against zero walks in the Spring and K/BB ratio and batted ball distribution are two stats that normalize pretty quickly and aren’t impacted by the hitter-friendly conditions of the two Spring Training locales.
Steele was pitching through flu-like symptoms in that outing and hadn’t pitched in a MLB ST game since Feb. 28, so it’s not all that shocking that he was off. Hopefully a week later, he’s feeling better and can put forth a better effort. I don’t know how much it matters in such a small sample size, but the Dodgers are drawing their second straight lefty, so their platoon-type players get a second straight day of action.
All we have to go off of early in the season are last year’s numbers and Steele’s were terrific, posting a 3.07 ERA with a 2.74 xERA and a 3.23 FIP in his 24 starts over 134.2 innings of work. He only threw 4.2 in his first start and then got hurt, missing more than a month of action.
Like I talked about in yesterday’s preview, tread lightly in these Japan games, as they are definitely an outlier with the change of venue, the time change, the fact that players are still trying to get ready for the season, and these games are a week and a half in advance of when the season typically begins.
Steele’s Outs Record prop is 14.5 and Sasaki’s is 12.5. I think one or both pitchers fall short of that. Sasaki hasn’t done more than three up-downs so far and I think four innings will be the max for him. Steele has a little more trust from his manager, but he was sick and that hurt his build-up for this start. But, yesterday’s two starters, Imanaga and Yamamoto, were both up to 75 pitches. Imanaga walked four, so he only went four innings.
As far as the game itself, the Cubs did look pretty lifeless as the game went on, with just that one baserunner after the fourth inning. I guess I’d lean slightly to the Dodgers.
Dodgers vs. Cubs Tokyo Series Game 2 Predictions
Lean: Dodgers (-155)
Picks: Justin Steele Under 14.5 Outs Recorded (-130); Roki Sasaki Under 12.5 Outs Record (-130)
