Game Recap: Cubs go quiet in season-opening loss to Dodgers

Darren Yamashita - USA Today Sports

Dustin Riese - Senior Writer - Tuesday, March 18 2025

TOKYO - Chicago Cubs (0-1) baseball is on the air as the 2025 MLB season officially kicked off Tuesday morning at the Tokyo Dome. After months of anticipation for the season to begin, things finally became real as the Cubs opened up their 2025 season with the reigning World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (1-0).

Although this is only a two-game set and is being played on a neutral field, these are considered home games for the Cubs, who were looking to start their season with a bang. Instead, it was more of the same for this team, as a lackluster offense paired with a poor bullpen outing did the Cubs in, as the Dodgers took care of business 4-1 to open the season.

All four Dodgers runs came off the Cubs pen, with three of them coming in one inning off Ben Brown, who didn't have his best stuff. Apart from that inning, the Cubs pitching was able to match the Dodgers as Shota picked up where he left off last season. Now, in his second season, many fans are wondering if you could see a regression this season, and judging by this start, that regression may not be as significant as you would think.

Sure, Imanaga did walk a career-high four batters compared to just two strikeouts, but most importantly, he got through four innings without allowing a run, which is all you can ask for against this Dodgers team. What is more impressive is that Imanaga didn't allow a hit in this start, and had it not been for the high walk total, there is a strong chance he would have gone out for at least one more inning.

The Cubs needed Imanaga to be at his best, and although he wasn't, he was just good enough to outduel his countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who got the start for the Dodgers. Like Imanaga, Yamamoto was on a 75-pitch count for his first start but was able to give the Dodgers five innings of four-strikeout baseball. He walked one and allowed one run as he opened his season with a solid outing.

With neither team generating much traction in the first inning, the Dodgers were looking to strike first in the second as Imanaga walked the first two hitters to begin the only to escape the frame without damage. That was the shot in the arm the Cubs needed for their offense, as a one-out single from Dansby Swanson was the first hit of the game and had the Cubs in business. Two batters later, Miguel Amaya cashed in with an RBI double, and the Cubs took a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately for them, that was their only run of the ballgame as the Cubs managed just one hit the rest of the way, with that one coming on a leadoff single from Ian Happ to begin the third. Despite that, the Cubs still managed to hold their 1-0 lead into the fifth as Imanaga worked around a pair of fourth-inning walks to finish his outing with the Cubs in front 1-0.

In the fifth, things began to unravel for the Cubs as Ben Brown entered the game to replace Imanaga. What was a positive start to the inning, with Brown striking out Josh Rojas to get things started, quickly turned south as Andy Pages worked a walk ahead of the Shohei Otani single as the Dodgers had runners on the corners with one out.

Hoping to wiggle his way out of trouble, Tommy Edman had other ideas as he smoked one the other way for a single, and just like that, this game was tied 1-1. A few pitches later, it did look as if Brown would limit the damage as he got Teoscar Hernandez to roll one over to short. The only problem was watching Jon Berti airmail Michael Busch on the double play attempt, which allowed for the go-ahead and winning run to score. The Dodgers would tack on an additional run later in the fifth off the Will Smith single to open up a 3-1 lead before turning things over to their pen.

When you look back at last season, the Dodgers pitching was in the middle of the road most of the season, but their bullpen stood out. Fast forward to this season with some of the additions they made, and that pen will be even harder to solve, which will be an issue for everyone in the league. Whether it be Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius, or Blake Treinen, the Cubs offense was handcuffed from the third inning on as they would go more than five innings without a baserunner with 16 consecutive hitters being retired.

Berti ended that in the eighth via a Treinen hit-by-a pitch before stealing second base to set the Cubs offense up to battle back. That was as close as the Cubs would come to scoring again as Treinen retired the next two hitters he faced, including Seiya Suzuki, who lined out to Rojas to end the threat.

Take away the rough inning from Brown, and the Cubs pitching was pretty solid despite some command issues throughout. Eli Morgan had the best outing of any of the Cubs relievers as he gave way to Ryan Brasier in the ninth. The former Dodger was greeted rather rudely as Otani led the ninth off with a double and advanced to third on the Edman groundout.

Not only do the Dodgers typically cash in on these situations, but they do a great job of making pitchers work, which Hernandez did before lacing an RBI single to bring home Otani to extend the lead to 4-1. Brasier would eventually get out of the ninth, but it took him 28 pitches, which was a theme for all four of the Cubs arms.

Down to their final three outs, the Cubs had some work to do as the Dodgers trotted out Tanner Scott for the ninth. One pitch into the ninth, Gage Workman put a great swing on a Scott heater only to have him get robbed of it in left. That was the brunt of the late-game excitement for the Cubs, as Scott retired the Cubs to close out the 4-1 win.

Anytime you're held to three hits, wins are going to be tough to come by, and that has been an all too common theme for this team for the past two seasons. Chicago will look to bounce back on Wednesday as they will send Justin Steele to the mound against the No.1 prospect in baseball, Roki Sasaki.