Rōki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga expected to pitch for Dodgers, Cubs during Japan trip

The 2025 MLB Tokyo Series between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers could feature a few native sons taking the mound over the course of the two games.

Cubs lefty pitcher Shota Imanaga and Dodgers starters Rōki Sasaki and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are all expected to start when the teams travel to Japan next month and open the season with a pair of games on March 18 and 19.

“Shota’s going to pitch in Japan,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said this week. “I think that’s mandated, kind of. I don’t think I have a choice, actually.”

The 31-year-old Imanaga made 29 starts in 2024, posting a 2.92 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and .225 opponent batting average. He finished the season with a 15-3 record.

While Shohei Ohtani is expected to play, he won’t pitch, as Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said this month that he doesn’t expect the three-time MLB MVP to return to the mound until May. Ohtani underwent a brace surgery on his torn UCL at the end of the 2023 season and spent the 2024 season as a full-time DH. He was initially expected to be ready to pitch by Opening Day 2025, but that timeline was complicated when he tore the labrum in his non-pitching shoulder in Game 2 of the World Series, an injury that required another surgery.

However, Sasaki and Yamamoto are in the Dodgers’ plans to feature on the mound during the Japan trip.

“The expectation for both those guys to pitch is real. But you never know,” Roberts said on MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” on Wednesday. “Things can certainly change. But at the outset, that’s our anticipation.”

Roberts told reporters that it’s “fair to say” that Yamamoto will start against the Cubs, while Sasaki could instead pitch in one of the team’s exhibition games before the Tokyo Series.

This would be Yamamoto’s second straight international start with the Dodgers after he made his MLB debut against the San Diego Padres in last season’s Seoul Series in South Korea. Three months after signing a 12-year, $325 million deal, Yamamoto was pulled after one inning; he lasted only 43 pitches and allowed five runs on four hits.

Sasaki, 23, agreed to a deal with the Dodgers in January, with a signing bonus reportedly worth $6.5 million. He pitched for Japan’s Chiba Lotte Marines in 2024, posting a 2.35 ERA and 1.04 WHIP and recording 129 strikeouts in 111 innings pitched.

Before they meet the Dodgers, the Cubs will take on the Tokyo Giants on March 16. The Dodgers will also face the Giants, as well as the Hanshin Tigers, before playing the Cubs.