PHOENIX — Baseball fans flocking to the Tokyo Dome for next month’s Major League Baseball opener between the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs will get to witness history: two Japanese-born pitchers will duel in their home country for the first time in a major-league game.
Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Sunday that the club will start Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga in the club’s opener on March 18, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday that “it’s fair to say” that right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the ball against Imanaga.
Roberts added that Japanese rookie Roki Sasaki could start the second of the two-game set, though that is contingent on how he acclimates during his first spring training stateside. The series is already set to feature some of the largest Japanese-born stars in the sport, with three-time MVP Shohei Ohtani headlining a group that includes Yamamoto, Imanaga, Sasaki and Seiya Suzuki. Roberts is also Japanese, born in Okinawa.
This marks Major League Baseball’s sixth time hosting regular-season games in Japan. Imanaga and Yamamoto will become the fourth and fifth Japanese-born pitchers to play in the famed Tokyo Dome with their American teams, joining Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima and Yusei Kikuchi.
Both Yamamoto and Imanaga are coming off strong rookie campaigns. Yamamoto, who signed the richest contract ever for a pitcher at 12 years and $325 million, made 18 starts and posted a 3.00 ERA while also getting the start in Game 2 of the Dodgers’ World Series run against the New York Yankees. Imanaga finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting and fifth in Cy Young voting after posting a 2.91 ERA in 29 starts.
Sasaki picked the Dodgers in international free agency over a group of finalists that included the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres while also meeting with the Cubs, among other teams.
“I don’t think anyone knows the body of work that’s going to come this year,” Roberts said of Sasaki, who threw a bullpen session in front of several dozen media members on Wednesday. “But I do feel that when he pitches, he’s going to be very good. He’s very talented. But I’m just as curious as everyone else is. But obviously, pure talent, there’s just not many guys that are as talented as he is.”
(Photo of Shota Imanaga: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)
