TOKYO – The Tokyo Series was the Cubs’ first test of the season. And it exposed some weaknesses for the Cubs: too many walks and sloppy defense on the first night; missed opportunities both on the mound and in the batter’s box the second.
The Dodgers, even while missing Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts, were the more polished team over two games.
Now the Cubs have a week before they reopen the season stateside.
“It obviously stinks that we weren’t able to win any games over here,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said after the Cubs’ 6-3 loss Wednesday. “But a lot of good learning experiences as a group that we can take back and get corrected before the season starts back home.”
By default, the Cubs will have the worst record in the majors for over a week, until the other 28 teams play their first regular-season action. But the season will have to play out further to gauge whether projections that have the Cubs comfortably winning the division are on the money.
They’ll have to play better than they did the last couple days to do so. But while the Cubs weren’t built with the star power of the juggernaut Dodgers, some of their issues in this series are quickly fixable.
The defensive adjustment rookie third baseman Matt Shaw made from Tuesday to Wednesday is a perfect example.
After committing an error trying to make a spinning throw to first on Tuesday, Shaw talked through the play with Swanson. Then Shaw had a similar ground ball hit to his left on Wednesday, kept his feet under him, and made an accurate throw.
“Good players are able tomake adjustments quickly,” Swanson said. “Good players can correct whether it’s mistakes or just any of the little things. … It obviously speaks volumes about who he is as a ball player. And a lot of exciting things to come.”
Sayōnara, Tokyo
The Cubs were scheduled to leave Wednesday night to return to Arizona, where they will resume spring training. The Cubs have three Cactus League games and two exhibition games against the Braves before opening their domestic schedule against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field on March 27.
The schedule will give them time to shake off the jet lag before resuming regular season games, a luxury they didn’t have for the 2023 London Series.
Going into that trip, the Cubs were on an 8-1 tear. They lost six of their first seven games back from London.
“Not only was it challenging to go, get acclimated, play, come back, get acclimated, play, but you have three off days for two games,” Cubs left fielder Ian Happ said. “And so it hurts the rest of the schedule. This is the opposite of that.”
Playing the Tokyo Series games early will give the Cubs and Dodgers two extra off-days during the season.
Roster decisions coming
The Cubs will have to make adjustments to their roster before the domestic opener, with three players – starters Jameson Taillon and Matthew Boyd, and second baseman Nico Hoerner – under a special designation only available for the early overseas series.