The Chicago Cubs will head to Tokyo next month to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers to open the regular season in the Japan Series on March 18-19.
The series will bring two of Japanese baseball’s biggest stars back home — Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga and Dodgers two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.
A matchup like this is great for the fans in Tokyo. Even better would be a pitching matchup that pits Imanaga against Ohtani on the mound.
During DodgerFest over the weekend, manager Dave Roberts was talking with fans and media about Ohtani’s return to the mound.
He didn’t pitch last season as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was able to hit, though, and he helped Los Angeles win the World Series as a designated hitter.
He finished the regular season with a slash line of .310/.390/.646/1.036 with 54 home runs and 130 RBI. He led the National League in home runs and RBI and won his third MVP award, with the other two coming in the American League.
The good news is that Ohtani will be able to hit in the Japan Series. The bad news is that a potential pitching matchup between he and Imanaga will not materialize.
Roberts said that Ohtani is on track to continue his throwing program in spring training and that his return to regular season action as a pitcher is on track for May, as reported by MLB.com.
Roberts said earlier this offseason that Ohtani would not throw in the Japan Series, so his comments at DodgerFest reflected that nothing has changed. He did leave room for Ohtani to return to the mound earlier in the regular season, depending on his progress.
This also reflects Ohtani’s surgery on his non-throwing shoulder after the injury he suffered while running the bases during the World Series.
As for Imanaga, he’s about to start his second MLB season. He went 15-3 last season with a 2.91 ERA in 29 starts, with 174 strikeouts and 28 walks in 173.1 innings. He was an All-Star, finished fourth in NL rookie of the year voting and fifth in NL cy young voting.
After Chicago returns to Arizona to resume spring training, they’ll continue the regular season with a four-game set at Arizona from March 27-30 before heading to Sacramento for the three-game series with the Athletics.
The Cubs don’t play a game at Wrigley Field until April 4 when they host San Diego.
