TOKYO — For all the memorable cultural experiences they’d enjoyed off the field, and all the eye-opening revelations they’d made about the club’s growing popularity here in Japan, the baseball side of the Dodgers’ season-opening trip to Tokyo hadn’t gotten off to the most seamless of starts.

Mookie Betts was ruled out of action after arriving in Tokyo battling a stomach virus, and eventually forced to make an early return home to Los Angeles on Monday night after losing almost 15 pounds.

Freddie Freeman was scratched from the Dodgers’ opening day lineup shortly before first pitch Tuesday night, after experiencing discomfort in the same left rib where he suffered broken cartilage during last year’s postseason.

And, after getting shut out in a Sunday exhibition against a Japanese team at the Tokyo Dome, the Dodgers began their regular season without a hit for the first four innings against Chicago Cubs ace — and star Japanese left-hander — Shota Imanaga, twice coming up empty in innings they drew two walks.

But then, the defending World Series champions started doing exactly what their nearly $400-million roster was built to this season.

They worked counts, strung together hits and manufactured runs. They leaned on dominant starting pitching, then a revolving door of reliable arms out of the bullpen. They absorbed an early one-run deficit, and flipped it in a matter of moments in the fifth inning.

By the end of the night, it amounted to an auspicious start to a 2025 season of ambitious expectations, the Dodgers beating the Cubs 4-1 before a pro-Dodger crowd on the other side of the globe.

“It was really cool,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “It’s always cool to experience different baseball cultures. I know we get a little spoiled playing at Dodger Stadium and our atmosphere is always amazing. But it’s just fun to experience different cultures.”

This week’s trip, of course, was always destined to be about more than just baseball.

It was a culmination of sorts in the Dodgers’ pursuit to “paint Japan blue,” and an opportunity to showcase the sport at large at a time the influence of Japanese players in the majors is at seemingly an all-time high.

“I don’t think that there was a Japanese baseball player in Japan that didn’t watch this game tonight,” manager Dave Roberts said.

The Dodgers’ starting pitcher, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, squared off against Imanaga in the first all-Japanese opening-day pitching matchup in major league history, giving up just one run in five strong innings while striking out four batters and averaging almost 97 mph with his fastball.

Another highly-anticipated pitching plan awaits in Wednesday’s finale, when Roki Sasaki will make his big league debut barely two months removed from his offseason signing with the Dodgers.

And then there was Shohei Ohtani, who had cameras following his every move during pregame ceremonies and caused a hush to fall over the sellout crowd when he came to the plate for the first time.

“I usually don’t get nervous hitting,” Ohtani said in Japanese afterward.

But in that at-bat, he admitted, “I was nervous for the first time in a while.”

Determined not to walk, Ohtani took a big swing that resulted in a game-opening ground out, setting the tone for Imanaga’s dominant but shortened four-inning start.

Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani singles in the fifth inning for the team’s first hit of the game against the Cubs.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Advertisement

Once Imanaga left the game, however, Ohtani played a key role in the Dodgers’ three-run rally in the fifth. He hit a one-out single, the Dodgers’ first of the game, that preceded Tommy Edman’s game-tying knock. He then scored the go-ahead on an errant throw from Cubs second baseman Jon Berti on a potential double-play.

Ohtani contributed again in the ninth, roping a double into the right-field corner before scoring an insurance run on Teoscar Hernández’s RBI single.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Shohei nervous,” Roberts said. “But one thing I did notice is how emotional he got during the Japanese national anthem. That was really something that was very telling, how emotional he was.”

Once the Dodgers took the lead, however, cruising the rest of the way behind a dominant bullpen performance punctuated by offseason signing Tanner Scott’s first save with the club, Ohtani seemed to loosen up in the dugout, laughing with teammates and soaking in the scene.

“That’s who he is,” Muncy said. “There’s no moment that’s too big for that guy. He hasn’t changed who he is. He’s a really cool guy to be a teammate with. He’s going to be talked about probably when he’s done as being the greatest baseball player ever and he doesn’t act like it. He just likes to have fun in that dugout.”

Someone who was having less fun being stuck in the dugout: Freeman, who said he “felt something” in his ribs during his last round of pregame batting practice, leading to a pregame meeting with Roberts, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes in which they decided it’d be best to play it safe and sit the reigning World Series MVP.

“I got out-ruled,” Freeman joked, noting he still hoped to play in the game. “It’s OK. It was probably smart. It’s obviously way better than last year. Last year, I needed help getting to my car that first day [I got hurt]. I can walk. I can take deep breaths. Just felt a little something in my rib, and with it being the first game, we didn’t want it to be something lingering.”

Freeman said he has a 75% chance of playing Wednesday, assuming his rib doesn’t bother him again during pregame activities. He added that the team’s head physician, Neal ElAttrache, told him the sensation might have just been the result of scar-tissue build-up where his old injury had healed, perhaps coinciding with the increased cage work Freeman had taken on in recent days (Freeman was the only Dodgers position player to hit during Monday’s off-day workout).

“I thought we made the right decision not playing him tonight, and we’ll see how he comes in tomorrow,” Roberts said. “So right now, I’m not too concerned.”

So goes things for the Dodgers on the whole right now. They’ve weathered their first bouts of adversity on the field. They’ve embraced a trip that has put them on an international stage. And on Tuesday, they did while also starting their regular season with a thorough opening day victory, setting up the opportunity for a two-game sweep against the Cubs on Wednesday.

“How the fans were into the game tonight was just really cool, really fun, really enjoyed it,” Muncy said. “They’re here to watch good baseball and I think they’re enjoying it just as much as we are.”