Early Wednesday morning, the regular season ended — for another week anyway. The Dodgers and Cubs played the second and final game of the Tokyo Series, casting us back into the pit of spring training baseball. Below, some notes on the game, a 6-3 Los Angeles win.
First InningIt’s snowing in Tokyo. Roki Sasaki Day has finally come.
I woke up just after 4:00 a.m. ET and once again decided to just stay up. I have already written a thousand words about Max Scherzer. I’m not necessarily crisp.
On the first pitch of the game, Justin Steele starts Shohei Ohtani off with a fastball over the plate. Of course he does. He’s Justin Steele. Ohtani seems to be familiar with the scouting report – uh, fastballs – and he launches the ball to the opposite field. For a moment you think he’ll do it. The crowd thinks he’ll do it. Ohtani looks up at the ball hopefully, then grimaces. It lands just short of the warning track.
In the bottom of the inning, Sasaki throws his first MLB pitch. It’s a fastball, 100 mph. It’s a ball, low to Ian Happ. Statcast actually says it hit the bottom of the zone. No matter. Happ flies out to left. Roki Sasaki has an MLB ERA of 0.00.
The crowd perks up for Seiya Suzuki, and Sasaki greets him with 101 mph for a ball before falling behind 2-0. After Suzuki fouls off another heater for strike one, Sasaki throws his first non-fastball, a slider that catches the top of the zone, to even the count 2-2. He goes back to fastballs and strikes Suzuki out swinging.
Sasaki breaks out his splitter for the first time in the majors to begin his matchup with Kyle Tucker. It never looks like a strike and Tucker doesn’t move. The next pitch is a center-cut four-seamer that Tucker crushes to center, but he gets under it and it doesn’t have the distance.
Second InningAfter Steele walks Will Smith, Max Muncy clubs a high slider into the right field corner for a double, moving Smith to third. Then things get weird.
Steele starts Enrique Hernández off with a slider, and catcher Carson Kelly just completely chunks it, a cardinal sin for someone with his particular job title. It hits the webbing of his glove and keeps on rolling. Smith scores and Muncy moves up to third, then scores on a sac fly one pitch later. The Dodgers are up, 2-0. This feels like yesterday. The Cubs are sloppy. The Dodgers are the Dodgers.
During commercial breaks, I’m muting the TV and listening to We Have Amnesia Sometimes, Yo La Tengo’s drony, improvised COVID album. They used the hyper-technical production technique of setting up a single microphone in the middle of their practice space and pressing record.
Matt Shaw doesn’t look like he’s getting into a batting stance so much as he looks like he’s attempting to disappear completely.
Sasaki struggles with his command, missing too far inside with his splitter and yanking his fastball or failing to get on top of it. The stuff looks great, but he has only one whiff so far. With runners on first and second and one out, Pete Crow-Armstrong lines a ball right at shortstop Miguel Rojas, who doubles off Michael Busch. Both the top and the bottom of the second inning end with double plays.
Third Inning Steele circles the mound and takes a deep breath. The camera cuts to Sasaki in the dugout. He’s not sitting down or resting. He’s not wearing a jacket on his pitching arm. He’s got his glove on, left leg on the top step, right leg on the second step, seemingly paused in the act of racing back onto the mound.
Tommy Edman crushes a high 3-2 fastball into the left field stands. It’s a no-doubter. Dodgers lead, 3-0. Steele strikes out Teoscar Hernández to end the side and removes his hat as he walks off the field. Its edge has left a circular indentation in his long, wet hair.
Jon Berti reaches on a swinging bunt to third. Muncy looks mad at himself, but he never had a chance. Berti politely waits three pitches before stealing second.
Sasaki’s splitter averages just 516 rpm. In 2024, the only pitches that averaged less spin belonged to position players and a knuckleballer.
Sasaki’s velocity has fallen from 99 to 97. He issues a walk, then another. The bases are loaded for Tucker, and Mark Prior strolls out to the mound to chat. Like all pitching coaches, Prior covers his mouth when he speaks. Unlike other pitching coaches, he doesn’t just stick his hand over his face. He crosses his left arm over his right, resting the base of his left hand on his chin as if in thought. Every other pitching coach looks like they’re calling a jet sweep right; Prior looks like he’s imparting hard-won wisdom.
Sasaki falls behind Tucker, and the fans raise their voices to encourage him. Prior gets on the bullpen phone. Sasaki misses, walking in a run. It’s 3-1, Dodgers. He strikes out the next two batters.
Fourth InningWill Smith doubles down the left field line. Steele’s hat is much lower on the left side than the right side. On the right, it barely even reaches the top of his ear.
Enrique Hernández clobbers a low fastball for a two-run homer. As he returns to the dugout, Teoscar Hernández tosses a celebratory shower of sunflower seeds in his path. Someone on the grounds crew will either have to vacuum the seeds up or pick them up by hand. The Dodgers lead, 5-1. Imagine traveling all the way to Tokyo just to lose two games.
Craig Counsell has a pretty long conversation, by bullpen phone standards.
My wife’s alarm goes off in the other room, and I climb back into bed for a few minutes. She tells me that I need to get more sunlight for my circadian rhythms. Dawn is breaking. I slink back into the sunless second bedroom.
Big Luis García is pitching for the Dodgers. Sasaki’s night is done. He went three innings, walking five and allowing one run.
García issues a two-out walk to Kelly, and Berti follows that up with a single. My wife sneezes in the other room. “Bless you!” I shout.
“What?”
“Bless you!”
“Thanks.”
Happ slices an RBI single into left field. It’s 5-2, and for at least the third time in the last two games, Suzuki comes to the plate representing the tying run. García fools him with a sweeper, and Suzuki takes an awkward, all-arm swing to end the inning.
Fifth InningNate Pearson comes on to pitch for the Cubs. Steele’s night is done too. He allowed five earned runs in four innings. We’re going to see a lot of relievers from here on out.
Pearson’s cleats are blue and white, but the pattern makes it look like he has his ankles taped over his shoes, rather than under them. I genuinely think it’s athletic tape for his first few pitches.
Ohtani absolutely blasts a ball into right center. Crow-Armstrong and Tucker converge at the right field wall. PCA leaps, but something strange happens to the ball. Ohtani rounds the bases, but it’s unclear whether the ball actually went over the fence. I realize I never turned the sound on the TV back up. I’ve been watching all this go down to the sound of a weird droning organ. It turns out that a fan reached out over the wall to catch the ball. They failed, and it dropped back onto the field. The review crew decides there’s not enough evidence to overturn the call, but it’s extremely close, maybe impossible to tell whether the ball would have caught the very top of the wall. It’s Ohtani’s first home run of the season, and the Dodgers’ lead is now 6-2.
In the bottom of the inning, Jack Dreyer makes his major league debut for the Dodgers. Tucker greets him by ripping a first-pitch fastball into right center. Andy Pages tracks it down for a loud out.
Shaw is back in the box. He leans back and turns away from the pitcher, rotating his front leg inward. He looks like he’s trying to fold himself in half length-wise. He bounces a comebacker off Dreyer for his first big league hit.
Dansby Swanson rips a double down the line, scoring Shaw. Rojas’ relay throw sails over Smith, but Dreyer is in position to back up and he fires to third, nearly catching the advancing Swanson. It’s a 6-3 game.
Sixth InningCaleb Thielbar is on, making his first appearance for the Cubs. He induces a hard chopper to the left side of the infield. Shaw pounces on it, spins and fires to first. He’s all grown up. Thielbar sets the Dodgers down in order.
Landon Knack is in for the Dodgers. There’s a gambling ad behind the home plate. There’s nowhere on earth where you can escape it.
My wife leaves the bedroom and sits next to me. I read her a few sentences. “Are they going to publish this?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I say, losing confidence somewhere between the Y and the H.
Berti singles again. My wife starts giving me a big, loud hug, trying to distract me from the game. “My wife comes in and annoys me,” she dictates. She puts some toast in the toaster over, then returns to the bedroom, stopping briefly in the doorway of the small room to do a silly dance.
A fan in a Dodgers hoodie makes an incredible play on a popup down the third base line. It takes Muncy to the wall and he reaches over the netting. The ball glances off his glove and the fan’s glove is somehow exactly in the right spot, calmly waiting upturned for the ricochet.
Seventh InningJulian Merryweather is pitching for the Cubs. He walks Michael Conforto, then gets a double-play ball from Rojas. Pages ropes a double into left, bringing Ohtani to the plate with a base open. When Counsell opts for the intentional walk, it’s the loudest the Tokyo Dome will get all series.
Edman rips a ball toward left field, but Shaw makes an incredible diving play, pops up, and nails him at first. After allowing batted balls of 103, 101.2, and 96.6 mph, Merryweather escapes unscathed.
Knack retires the Cubs in order. Shaw strikes out swinging. The toast smells amazing.
Eighth InningPorter Hodge comes on to pitch for the Cubs. His beard is extraordinarily well groomed. He looks the way Steele would have to look if he were to join the Yankees.
Kirby Yates pitches the eighth for the Dodgers. His beard is also very tidy.
The stadium does the wave.
Kelly singles, bringing Berti to the plate with two outs. Berti is 3-for-3 with three singles. His helmet already has a healthy coating of pine tar. Yates takes a long, deep breath before the 2-2 pitch. He misses high. Berti catches just enough of the 3-2 pitch that it pops out of Smith’s glove for a foul ball rather than strike three. No matter; he pops out to end the inning.
Ninth InningThe crowd explodes when Ryan Pressly walks Rojas with one out. Rojas is the eighth batter, so putting him on means that, barring a double play, Ohtani will come to the plate one more time. The fans cheer louder when Pressly walks Pages too.
Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy hurries out to talk to Pressly.
It’s unnerving how still Ohtani’s batting stance is. Most players need to keep some sort of motion going just to stay springy and athletic. Ohtani is like a statue. Even in the on-deck circle, he just has his arms extended, elbow up, only relaxing into his stance once the pitcher has already started their delivery.
Pressly walks Ohtani too. He has walked the bases loaded for the Dodgers’ true power hitter: Edman. Pressly wiggles out of it, inducing a bouncer to second for a double play.
Alex Vesia comes in for the bottom of the ninth to close things out. With one out, the crowd gets a final chance to cheer for Suzuki. They ooh when he takes a 2-2 pitch right at the top of the zone, but it’s called a ball. He fouls off two 3-2 pitches, but swings through the third.
Tucker extends the game with a line drive double off the left field wall. It’s an impressive display of power, and it’s his first hit as a Cub. Fittingly, the right-handed Justin Turner pinch-hits for Busch against the lefty Vesia. With the end near, the broadcast cuts to shots of all the game’s Japanese stars looking on from the dugout. Turner works a walk, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Shaw.
Prior strolls slowly out to the mound for a long talk. He might be icing the rookie. Shaw holds his bat up to his face, examining the Marucci label.
Vesia dots a breaking ball on the inside corner for strike one. Shaw reaches out and rolls over the second pitch, a fastball, sending a chopper into the hole at short. Rojas ranges to his left, sets and fires. Shaw runs through the bag. He’s out, but it’s close enough that he’s sure that he made it, spreading his arms wide to make sure the umpire knows it too. It’s close enough that the Cubs consider challenging, only to get the word that no, the game, the series, is over.
