What was suspected the Chicago Cubs made official on Tuesday, as they announced that Shota Imanaga would start the opener of the Tokyo Series on March 18 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That means that Imanaga will face his countryman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has already been selected to start the opener for the Dodgers.
The starts for the second game on March 19 are not set. But the Dodgers have announced that it’s likely rookie phenom Roki Sasaki will pitch in some capacity in the second game.
At the start of spring training, Cubs manager Craig Counsell joked that he might be “required” to start Imanaga, given that the series was in Tokyo and there was a chance to pit a pair of Japanese stars against one another on the mound.
Imanaga is 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.
Yamamoto made his MLB debut last season after signing a 12-year, $325 million deal. He went 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 starts, as he struck out 105 and walked 22 in 90 innings. He missed two months of the season with triceps tightness. But he won a World Series ring.
The Dodgers have already ruled out Shohei Ohtani from pitching in the two-game series. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts rule out Ohtani in November and reiterated that during DodgerFest last month.
Not only is Ohtani continuing his build-up from Tommy John surgery but he also had shoulder surgery on an injury he suffered while sliding into second base in the World Series. The right-hander is expected to take his starting pitching bow sometime in May. But he should be in the designated hitter role as he shoots for his fourth MVP award.
The Cubs are preparing to open their spring training slate on Thursday against the Dodgers. The Cubs plan to start Cody Poteet. Both teams started spring training early to prepare for the overseas opener.
Chicago returns after the series 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.
