For everything they enjoyed from the field, and an eye-opening revelation about the club, “The baseball side of the season-opening trip to Tokyo didn’t have a seamless start.
After arriving in Tokyo fighting the stomach virus, he was eventually forced to return home early to Los Angeles after losing nearly 15 pounds on Monday night.
Shortly before the first pitch on Tuesday night, I scratched it after experiencing what the team called the left rib rib rib rib rib rib rib rib rib shortly before the Dodgers’ opening day lineup.
And after playing against a Japanese team at Tokyo Dome, the Dodgers began their regular season without a hit in the first four innings against the Chicago Cubs ace and star Japanese left-handed Shoota Imanaga.
But then the defending champions have begun doing exactly that they have built up a nearly $400 million roster up until this season.
They worked the count, hits, and produced runs. They leaned towards the starting point dominated by a revolving door of trustworthy arms from the bullpen. They absorbed an early one-run deficit and flipped it over in the fifth inning moment.
By the end of the night, it had become an auspicious start to the Dodgers before the crowds of Pro Dodgers on the other side of the world, an ambitiously anticipated 2025 season.
Of course, this week’s trip was always destined to be more than baseball.
It was a kind of culmination in the pursuit of the Dodgers – they gave them an international platform to showcase their star Japanese trio, who were playing their first career MLB game in their hometown. He faced Imanaga in the first Japanese opening day pitch-up matchup in major league history. And then he will make his major league debut in the finale of the Tokyo Series on Wednesday.
Their new look roster spent once again pursuing a second straight championship – approaching the field in a foreign setting with the help of a private sushi dinner hosted by Oani, Yamamoto and Sasaki on Sunday night.
It was also an opportunity for sports to be celebrated on the global stage, influenced by major Japanese players. Some of Otani shows that three MVPs have raised his celebrity level in Japan to an unimaginable magnitude.
“On the last handful of days, I think we could see how excited the fans were, and the people in Tokyo were,” the manager said before the match. “The players are ready.”
And the Dodgers got into five innings, and it took them five times to acquire themselves, but they didn’t look back on what they did once.
We held a hitless on the first four frames of Imanaga. Imanaga took two walks in two groups in two and four innings.
After Andy Page went for one walk, Otani began his rally in earnest, sending a 107-mile line drive to the correct field of past pages and singles. It was the Dodgers’ first hit, and it blew an energy shock to the sold-out crowd.
From there, the Dodgers continued to come. Tommy Edman tied the score to the left with singles. Teoscar Hernández hit a potential double-play chopper discarded by Cubs’ two baseman Jon Berti, allowing Ohtani to win a go-ahead run. Will Smith doubled the lead with another RBI single.
Five batters. Three runs. Innings that change one game.
A 3-1 lead was enough for Yamamoto. Yamamoto followed a strong spring camp with an impressive five-inning one-run start. The Dodgers bullpen ran through their latest toys and signed Tanner Scott in the $72 million offseason, finishing the game in nine innings.
