TOKYO – The Tokyo Dome video board lit up Sunday night with the words “CUBS WIN,” flashing between English and Japanese. Clark, the team mascot, waved a “W” flag in center field. And “Go Cubs Go” played over the loudspeakers, celebrating the team’s first exhibition game win.
“If we could hear it two more times, that would be fantastic,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said after the game. “Never thought I’d hear it [in Japan]. It’s a beautiful song and a beautiful country to play in.”
To play the song twice more in the Tokyo Dome this week, the Cubs would have to sweep the Tokyo Series against the Dodgers. The two teams open the regular season Tuesday. For the Cubs, it’s essentially playoffs-or-bust. And right away, they go up against the defending World Series champions, who weren’t satisfied with that title and continued to add this offseason.
“It’s a good test, for sure,” right-hander Jameson Taillon said. “It’s always good to play a team like that and just see where you’re at. And for us, getting to come over here is a great way to start the year, to bond as a team and get to spend time together. We’ve been around each other a lot with the 14-hour flight and all the parties and events and stuff over here, so it’s been really cool.”
Because of the organization’s offseason activity, the Cubs have plenty of new players to integrate. They’re the most concentrated in the bullpen, but the Cubs also brought in starter Matt Boyd, veteran clubhouse leader Justin Turner and a superstar Kyle Tucker.
Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer wasn’t sitting on his laurels with a four-year playoff drought to break. But he was also operating within a budget that had the Cubs ranked No. 13 in payroll as of Monday, despite being a large-market team.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers continued to flex their financial might.
“They’ve been consistently dominant for 10 years now, really,” manager Craig Counsell said. “Because they haven’t won the World Series I don’t think detracts from their dominance, frankly. They’ve been the best team in the regular season, essentially, for the last 10 years; there’s a big argument about that. And that means you’ve got to keep getting better, and that’s what that’s what they’ve done. And then they’ve done it again this year.”
In addition to the star power on the Dodgers’ roster, they reportedly agreed to a four-year, $32.4 million extension with manager Dave Roberts last week, making him the highest-paid manager by average annual value, surpassing Counsell’s five-year, $40 million contract with the Cubs.
“They’re the defending world champions, they’ve got a great group,” Swanson said. “But we feel like we have a really strong group over here as well. We have a really good blend of guys who have been there and done that, got a really good blend of these young up-and-coming kids that have a lot of talent, and [players] in the middle as well. I feel like we have a lot of depth. We can play any game that we need to play.”
The two games between the Cubs and Dodgers in Tokyo won’t dictate the rest of the season. Last year, the Cubs won the season series against the Dodgers four games to two, and then finished 10 games behind the Brewers in the division.
“It matters how you play in September the same as you do in March and April,” Taillon said. “But it’ll be a good test for sure.”
While the Cubs have the advantage of playing in a wannabe division – and are certainly the NL Central favorites going into the season – merely sneaking into the playoffs shouldn’t be the goal for a franchise with their history and brand recognition.
After opening the season in a marquee event against the Dodgers, they should be aiming to face them again in the NL Championship Series, where the contest isn’t a measuring stick but the difference between advancing or going home.