Chicago Cubs sloppy opening day play activates needless worry and dread

The Chicago Cubs didn’t look good this Tuesday in their 4-1 opening day loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo Japan.

The pitchers looked somewhat out of sync. There was some sloppy defensive play. The hitters also looked somewhat “off” and a half-step behind the pitching.

And all of that makes sense. In a normal season, the Cubs would be just winding down spring training at this point of the year, getting likely starters reps and just generally fine-tuning their game.

This year, however, they are halfway around the world, opening the season against the world champion Dodgers in a game with a level of electricity that feels more like a playoff opener than a March 18 game.

A Lot To Make Chicago Cubs Fans Wince

But, yeah, there was a lot to make fans wince.

Shota Imanaga rose to the occasion in this big at-home opener, but he didn’t look to have his best stuff, nor did he have his best control, giving up four walks in four shutout, no-hit innings. One wonders whether the proverbial roof would’ve caved in on him if he had not been pulled after four innings as he nearly hit his team-imposed 70-pitch limit.

Ben Brown, who followed Imanaga, had some electric stuff, but he also was a bit all over the place, giving up 3 walks, 4 hits, and 2 earned runs in 2.2 innings.

Former Dodgers reliever Ryan Brasier got smacked around a bit, allowing 2 hits, 1 walk, and 1 earned run in 1 inning.

Top prospect Matt Shaw made his big league debut in a most inauspicious way– with a 0-4 day and an error at third base.

Kyle Tucker continued his spring drought with a 0-4 day in his official regular season Cubs debut. The multi-tool, multi-time right fielder is now 1-for-his entire time as a Cub.

That’s certainly a lot of negative to chew on, and much of it lines up with legitimate points of concern headed into this 2025 season. What if the bullpen doesn’t hold? What if one or more of the starting rotation falls off? What if Tucker has a down year? What if Shaw is a bust?

Putting Things Into Perspective

But before we start panicking and preparing for a great purge at the trade deadline for rebuild-fodder, let’s just put things into perspective.

This is only the first game. The Cubs still have 99.38% of the season remaining. Plus, they WERE playing against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, and the rest of the Dodgers– the best team in baseball.

And– brace yourselves– the Cubs may look similarly “off” on Wednesday in game two of the two-game Japanese series.

But things WILL get better.

Positivity…

Last year informs us that Imanaga will get his control figured out. Tuesday, even in such an odd event without his best stuff, he managed to account for himself quite well.

Tucker, meanwhile, is Tucker. History tells us that he’ll pull out of his funk and have a Tucker-like year.

The 23-year-old Shaw will go through some growing pains as a rookie, but his run as a pro in the Cubs organization tells us that he’s a winner. At the very least, he’ll be better than what the Cubs had going on at third base last year.

Nico Hoerner will also be back on the team for the domestic opener on March 27 and will register as an upgrade to utility man Jon Berti, who committed a crucial throwing error at second base on Tuesday.

Also, the bullpen should be just fine. There are too many horses in that pen for it to fail.

So, for now, Cubs fans, just relax. Enjoy the spectacle from Japan on Wednesday and leave the worrying to late spring/early summer.

For More Great Chicago Sports Content

Follow us on Twitter at @chicitysports23 for more great content. We appreciate you taking time to read our articles. To interact more with our community and keep up to date on the latest in Chicago sports news, JOIN OUR FREE FACEBOOK GROUP by CLICKING HERE