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Get ready for the MLB regular season because it begins tomorrow morning, as the LA Dodgers take on the Chicago Cubs at 6:10 AM ET on Tuesday. Los Angeles will want to continue their stride after winning the World Series last year. The Cubs struggled to find their consistency last year, but optimism will be high entering the year.
Feel free to browse our picks for tomorrow’s Dodgers vs. Cubs game and see whether it’s something you want to fade or follow on our MLB Fantasy Pick’em page!
The LA Dodgers would struggle early on in MLB Spring Training, especially to the likes of the Chicago Cubs, who dished out a 12-4 and 7-3 loss to LA. By the end of February, the Dodgers would post only 3 wins and 6 losses before starting March extremely strong. The Dodgers finished Spring Training with a 12-8 record.
Los Angeles’ main pitchers this season are Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw. While the entire rotation won’t pitch in Japan, Yamamoto will start today, while Saski will toe the rubber in the second game on Wednesday.
At bat, the team is led by Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez. However, there truly isn’t a weak link in this lineup, and it’s hard to not see LA making a deep run once October rolls around.
The Chicago Cubs had a hotter start to spring training, as they rattled off six consecutive wins before tying three consecutive games from February 26-28 against the Giants, Angels and then the Rangers. However, they’d come out at the start of March with a solid 7-4 win over the Guardians before dismantling the Royals 11-1 on the same day. Chicago finished spring training with an 11-5 mark.
Chicago’s most notable pitcher is Shota Imanaga, who will start Tuesday’s game. However, their rotation consists of Justin Steele, Matthew Boyd, Colin Rea and Jameson Taillon. Although they finished 3rd in the NL Central last season, the Cubs will feel like they can compete and potentially win the divison.
At the plate, Chicago is led by Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Klyer Tucker and Michael Busch. The Cubs don’t have the firepower that the Dodgers do, as they finished in the middle of the pack for most offensive statistics in 2024.
Starting the MLB regular season in Tokyo, Japan is a change from what baseball fans are used to. However, the LA Dodgers winning the majority of their games will be a familiar sight. LA has too much firepower to make this a close contest, and I anticipate early base runners for the Dodgers.
Mookie Betts will miss this two-game series due to an illness, so I expect SS Tommy Edman to get on base early and often as he should replace his spot in the lineup. I’m not sure how he won’t cross the plate at least once when you have big bats behind you. Therefore, I predict Edman will record at least one run in Tuesday’s contest against Chicago.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.