With the 2025 MLB regular season now officially underway, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Tokyo Series continues:
Game 1 of the Tokyo Series is in the books. The Dodgers’ offense got to the Cubs’ bullpen after strong performances from starters Shota Imanaga (four scoreless frames) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (five innings of one-run ball). The Dodgers ultimately came away from the game with a 4-1 victory, and the Cubs will try to leave Japan with a split in Game 2 tomorrow morning. Youngster Roki Sasaki (2.35 NPB ERA in 2024) will make his MLB debut for the Dodgers, pitching opposite Cubs southpaw Justin Steele (3.07 MLB ERA in 2024). As was the case this morning, tomorrow’s game will take place at 5:10am CT (3:10am PT), and will be broadcasted nationally on FS1. Meanwhile, locals in Chicago and Los Angeles can tune into Marquee Sports Network and Sportsnet L.A. for their respective local broadcasts.
2. Freeman scratched from Game 1:
Just before the start of Game 1 this morning, the Dodgers announced that star first baseman Freddie Freeman had been scratched from the lineup due to left rib discomfort. Notably, Freeman played through a rib injury during the 2024 postseason. Freeman had previously indicated that his rib issue improved over the offseason with rest, however, and it’s unclear if today’s discomfort is related to that previous injury. The Dodgers figure to provide more details about Freeman’s status, including his availability for Game 2 of the series tomorrow, after the game. The Dodgers tabbed utilityman Enrique Hernandez to cover first base in Freeman’s absence this morning.
3. MLBTR chat today:
The regular season now officially underway, and the 28 teams that have yet to begin playing are sorting out their final roster decisions before stateside Opening Day later this month. Whether you have questions about an ongoing camp battle or a late spring trade proposal in the back of your mind, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will be here to answer your questions during a live chat scheduled for 1pm CT later today. You can click here to ask a question in advance, join in live once the chat begins, or read the transcript once the chat is complete.
That rib issue for Freeman has to be a little concerning for Dodger fans. If this is still a holdover from last season, is it going to get better this season without a lengthy absence? He had all off season to get better.
Could be something minor and not related, of course, but still a little concerning.
Definitely concerning. Don’t want him to have to pay all year for being the hero of the World Series.
After the game Freddie said he felt something in his rib during pregame BP. Same place as last year’s injury but not as severe. Said here is “75 percent chance” he can play tomorrow but won’t push it if he still feels something. He added it is much less severe this team around, and said he even wanted to play in Tuesday’s season opener. (via Jack Harris)
No Betts. No Freeman. No problem. Cubs are a team built to win the NL Central. I said it before . I’ll say it again. Not saying Brown can’t pitch but I think that was an odd spot to put him in the game though. Anyway he got some experience anyway so something good might come of it.. Won’t win a Playoff Series though.
That’s the Cub way, build to TRY and win a crappy division. Only 161 games of misery left thankfully. But a lifetime of disappointment.
This is a great day….now that we know how the season will play out and end, I’m hoping this means we won’t see any expert analysis from Uncle until November. Have a great summer.
We’ll probably get the daily troll from Mr Hanley, and it’s always great to know he’s missing out on all that rent he can be collecting with the Cubs living in his head.
Well I keep trying to tell people how Hoyer has screwed up this team. Now we’re gong to lose Thompson who may or may not have had a future for Brasier who probably doesn’t even have a present. Do I really have to list the bad moves made where an expensive veteran was obtained to put in front of a young player? It would take up the whole page. Riddle me this, Who would you rather have right now? Kyle Tucker for 1 year or Cam Smith and Wesneski for 6 years? Boyd for 2 years and 30 million or Wicks for 6 or 7 years for peanuts? I’ll wait.
I would rather have one year of Tucker than Cam Smith being Matt Shaw’s backup.
I agree Cubs are built to compete with Milwaukee and it will be a close race. Neither team is well equipped to beat the Dodgers but either team would be on equal footing with the Yankees or Mets.
I would give Hoyer a C- grade for this past off-season. His best moves were not trading Shaw, Horton, Caissie, Alcantara and Ballesteros. Trading Morel for Paredes for Tucker was awesome, disappointing but acceptable that Cam Smith was part of deal. They don’t get Tucker otherwise. Whether that C- holds up depends on whether either Boyd or Pressly are excellent in 2025. I actually don’t mind Berti and Workman because at least Mastrobuoni is gone.
Keegan is 30 years old. He’s had plenty of opportunities.
You still got Wicks for peanuts when Boyd goes on the IL
As for Tucker, that could be Jed’s downfall. They’re going all-in with Shaw. But for all we know, Jed may have been extended already and it hasn’t been announced.
Until we get past 2026 I’m going to stay convinced that this is NOT Hoyer and it’s all Ricketts preparing for a shutdown of baseball after the 2026 season.
There is nothing that can convince me that Hoyer isn’t under tight restraints to keep the payroll where it is at and not have anyone other than Dansby past that point.
There are too many players (Happ, Seiya, Taillon, Nico) lined up through 2026 to make me feel any other way.
Do you really think, if everything is unlimited, Hoyer wouldn’t have made plays for Soto, signed Tucker already, etc?
Remember, if baseball shuts down, Ricketts has a bunch of other ventures around the park to stop having revenue streams.
If baseball gets an agreement Ricketts has a boatload of clean sheets to throw money around again.
Unless Hoyer is still here and re signs them all again you mean. And having all the money streams around the park makes him smart IMO. And if what you say is true then you know they aren’t handing out a 10 year deal for Kyle Tucker which makes his trade all more stupid in context right? So go ahead and defend it some more. And if Hoyer is under salary restraints what’s with the the Boyd signing? How is that helping the bottom line? Smith should be playing 3rd, Shaw should be playing second and Nico should have been moved for prospects. That would have been the SMART play. But we don’t have that do we?
Smith should not be starting at third. He’d be as good as Morel was.
Every damn day, because they are owned by a group of horrible sub humans supporting a convicted felon with their garbage money Daddy gave them.
Built to win the NL Central? I dont even think they came close to accomplishing that.
Can’t wait till MLB sets up shop in Japan. Get rid of some of the worthless teams in the league and move them to Asia.
That will never happen. 12 hour plane rides from the west coast and travel fatigue is horrible. If they were going to support a MLB team then all of their current teams players wouldn’t need to come to the US to get paid. They would already be making money in Japan.
@Mets Era Thumping Soto
Who cares if it will never happen. MLB has a financial incentive to grow the game and the league. It’s not going to grow by having a team in Nashville or Montreal because your other teams in Jokeland, Arm-Pittsburgh & MMmi can’t field competitive teams.
The top paid player in Japan makes a little over 5 million a year. Why do you think they could field a competitive team?
@Mets Era Thumping Soto
That’s the NPB not MLB. But, if I have to follow your logic, Rays do well with a low budget.
If MLB wants to make the “World Series” actually include the “world” have whatever MLB team wins play the Japan champion in November. Never going to happen. And no, I’m not talking about WBC or Olympics.
You have to wonder what the end game is by Robby the robot and his gang.
There are more foreign players than Americans playing the game now, a big red flag among the young population, and participation by African Americans a sharper decline.
@This one belongs to the Reds
Corporate spreadsheets games.
Reds – Money is money no matter where it comes from. Baseball has dropped in popularity among the youth here in the US, so MLB is pursuing other demographics such as the Japanese and analytics crowds.
Can’t say I blame them, it’s no different than if you have your house for sale and a foreign buyer offers far more than US buyers. Would you turn down the much higher offer just to keep the house American owned? I’m guessing no.
A lot of American kids are being kept from becoming MLB players by foreign PED users though, now THAT is something MLB should put a stop to …. but they haven’t and they won’t.
Baseball is at its all time highs in youth participation in the USA. It’s had a 108% increase since 2014.
Mets – Thank you! It’s been a while since I researched youth baseball participation, good to hear it’s improved so much.
This one belongs to the Reds
I have never, ever met a young person who disliked baseball for the reason that so many players were born in foreign countries.
Maybe you hang around with a certain crowd?
@MLB Top 100 Commenter
I don’t like baseball because it was taken over by geeks who were never good at sports, so they want to ruin it for everyone.
😀
Commenter- you obviously missed the point, which is young Americans are turned off by the game (the average age of the baseball fan over 50 now by all accounts) and not pursuing it, so as a result there are a lot more foreign players.
So much misinformation and xenophobia in here
I’ve been noticing a lot of the xenophobia, in particular towards Japanese players, from NL Central fans lately for some reason (especially from certain Cubs and Reds fans)
Reds, there are more foreign players because the game has grown globally, just like the NBA.
You are right that majority of fans are over 50, but NFL mirrors that also. Mlb viewer ship is up in all age groups over last couple of years. The over 50 crowd is due to age, many retired. Changes in life, kids grown.
That game was beyond boring.
Settle down it’s just a ga— oh wait
@settledownitsjustagame
Because baseball has sterilized the game into a corporate spreadsheet game. They removed all the characters and strategy from the game.
Those analytics are what’s driving strategy. The shift was strategy, having a power hitter hitting lead, launch angles, not stealing and then adapting to new rules and stealing like crazy is all strategy.
Maybe you mean ‘outdated strategy’ like sac bunts and hit and run.
@DroppedThirdStrike
I know, man. I’m just having some fun. But, a lot of the stagnation we see in baseball is due to the pure focus on data, that might seem like it’s driving strategy, but a lot of the personal decisions by the managers is removed and being decided by spreadsheets. When pitchers are dealing as they were with Berríos against the Twins and Blake Snell being removed from the WS, having only thrown 73 pitches were both strategy based on data/analytics over how the pitcher is doing on a personal level. Sure, you could say, the data doesn’t support him going so deep, but there is an emotional/human side of big games that isn’t included in the data and when you have your ace on the mound, sometimes, you need to put trust in him. Ultimately, they pulled him and the Dodgers went on to win the game and the WS. In these cases, the analytics failed both teams.
Again, I’m not against analytics and sabermetrics, as I love them but part of baseball culture includes the human element and understanding who your players are and who you can rely upon for big games. There is the human strategy involved as well that is usually missing from the data/analytics strategy.
All boredom is self-imposed.
It’s been a year today since Josh Harrison was last under contract with a pro baseball team. Since he may never get a retirement post here, consider this the Josh Harrison appreciation comment. Feel free to share your comments as well.
I would add Zack Greinke to that list. I don’t believe he’s ever announced he retired.
The MLB season gets underway in nine days.
@LordD99
It already started. Dodgers are 1-0. Dodgers magic number to eliminate the Cubs is 161 and 162 for the rest of the NL.
Sounds like a rly boring game
No betts no freeman, mostly RPs, low scoring
Yawwwn
@chandlerbing
Agreed. Live ball era is getting boring. Time for a return to dead-ball. I love the strategy. Today, the only strategy is swing for the fences or take a seat on the bench. That is boring…
Old York: Since Manfred is doing everything he can to help the offense, I doubt he’d do anything that would help with strategy, especially on the defensive side. I love your idea, though. I think of baseball as the thinking man’s game, like the battle between the P and batter. Others as well.
I wouldn’t be opposed.
How come the series counts as two home games for the Cubs and not split ?
Because the Dodgers need the home revenue when they are back in the states…..they are barely scraping by and need as much of the parking gate as possible! HA!
The Dodgers probably weren’t willing to lose home games and MLB wasn’t gonna do a Japan Series without Shohei.
The two Tokyo games are Cubs home games because they only have two more home games vs LAD at Wrigley (in April). Dodgers have 4 home games vs Cubs. The Tokyo games balance the home-away between them.
It is unbalanced because the Dodgers only have three home games against the Cubs.
Oh my god what will we do??????
Even if they lose freeman and betts for any length of time, dodgers will still win over 100! As for cubs, they need more than Tucker in dmiddle of their lineup. Swanson hitting 5? Come on!
How many hits, not runs, will cubs get against sasaki in that environment? No more than 4?
No more than 4 is a safe number.
Happy Opening Day!
Hoyer had time enough this off season to make splurge to get more sock in middle of that lineup in addition to Tucker but would not spend the money to get additional stick to make difference. If Tucker falls flat which is happening, cubbies in trouble. Hoyer he gone!
An 0-for-4 debut is unfathomable. Should probably DFA him?
“Manager” Craig Counsell. GET THE F OUTTA HERE.
Day 1 of the 2025 Cubs Season and I cannot tell a difference from last year’s failure.
1. Get a small early lead, (PItching better hold that, that’s the only run support your getting until the 8th or 9th.
2. Our SP of the Day dominates like usual.
3. The Offense goes cold,(me personally I hate this offense, it’s old, and completely MID. Dansby, Happ, Nico, PCA, Amaya, do not give confidence. The FO thinks that can win a title? LMAO
4. Pull the SP after 4 no hit innings??? Counsell? Is he really a double agent sent by MIL to keep us down? He did this ROUTEINELY last year, pulling our starters when they’re dominating just for:
5. New Pitcher coughs up the lead within 5 minutes. Just, UGH. Ben Brown? We signed all those random pitchers, and you pick the unproven, young, inexperienced, Ben Brown to go hold a 1 run lead vs the best team in the last decade, jesus christ.
6. Make a error at the worst possible time, Jon Berti will not last LONG on this team, he will be like Trey Mancini, and one Eric Hosmer. DFA’d BY MAY.
7. Bullpen “rallies” and keeps the game close enough to make us all keep watching hoping for a comeback…
8. Late Rally. (This did not happen today, the cubs only late inning baserunner was a HBD in the 8th, not good.)
9. Loss, 0-1, winnable game as Dodgers missed 2 best players, winnable game on very important stage, winnable game as Shota shut the dodgers down for half of the game.
See you tomorrow to type out exactly same thing most likely.
Hey tucker has had a single hit, a homer, the entire spring. If anybody ouher than yep he’d be sen down- hardly a superstar!