Cubs fall to Dodgers 4-1 on Opening Day in Tokyo Series

TOKYO – The Tokyo Dome fell quiet as Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga stared down the mound and Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani settled into his stance in the batter’s box.

After an Opening Day ceremony that included a grand-piano national anthem performance, flashing wristbands across the stadium timed up to hype videos, and giant on-field Pikachus bobbing along to lineup announcements, it was a discordant moment of stillness.

Then Imanaga unleashed a high heater for the first pitch of the game, a called strike. And the 2025 season was off to the races.

“I had two missions for this game,” Imanaga said through an interpreter after the Cubs’ 4-1 loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. “One was to have a good game. Two was to win the game. I feel like the first mission I accomplished. The second mission I did not.”

The Cubs’ season began with four hitless innings from Iamanaga, some sloppy defense, and a quiet night at the plate. It wasn’t the kind of tone-setting performance that can propel a team into the season, but it wasn’t disastrous either.

“Shota pitched really, really well,” manager Craig Counsell said. “No hits, there was a lot of weak contact, worked around some walks. They put good at-bats on us all night and fouled off a bunch of pitches, earned some extra pitches. But Shota managed it really, really well.”

Imanaga won that first at-bat, in front of a crowd primarily sporting Ohtani jerseys, by inducing Ohtani to ground out to the right side of the field. Then in the third inning, he got him to line out. Ohtani is 0-for-7 against Imanaga all time.

Imanaga walked four batters on Tuesday, a career high. But he navigated that traffic by missing barrels and getting the Dodgers under the ball.

“Usually for a longer start, giving up a few runs is OK,” Imanaga said. “ But today, the focus was trying to keep it to zero runs.”

Beginning the season over a week earlier than usual, the Cubs scripted out about a 70-pitch start for Imanaga. He reached about that mark as he finished the fourth inning.

The Cubs had taken the lead in the second inning, when Miguel Amaya drove a long fly ball into the right-center gap to score Dansby Swanson from second base. But soon after Imanaga left the game, replaced by right-hander Ben Brown in the fifth inning, the Dodgers lineup started producing.

Brown walked No. 9 hitter Andy Pages with one out, turning the Dodgers’ batting order over to Ohtani at leadoff. He got on top of a high curveball, sending it into right field for a single and the Dodgers’ first hit of the game, moving Pages to third.

Up next, Tommy Edman hit a line drive into left, and Cubs outfielder Ian Happ made a diving stop to keep it to a single. But Pages scored, tying the game at one run apiece.

All that was manageable damage from an offense that’s solid even without Mookie Betts (illness) or Freddie Freeman (left rib discomfort). But then the Cubs’ defense faltered.

Third baseman Matt Shaw handled a sharp ground ball from Teoscar Hernández and fired to second to throw out Edman. But second baseman Jon Berti made an ill-advised attempt to turn a double play and his throw soared out of first baseman Michael Busch’s reach.

The error brought in another run and put Hernández on second, where he scored easily on Will Smith’s single the next at-bat.

“You play a game like the Dodgers, you’ve got to do a lot of things right,” Counsell said. “And that includes defensively, where I think we're really strong. Especially that mistake tonight cost us one [run].”

That three-run fifth-inning rally would have been enough, as Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto kept the Cubs offense at bay and the bullpen followed suit. The Cubs didn’t record another hit after Ian Happ’s high-bouncing single to lead off the third inning. But the Dodgers tacked on another run in the ninth with a leadoff double from Ohtani and an RBI single from Smith against veteran reliever Ryan Brasier.