Cody Snavely
TOKYO—The Los Angeles Dodgers opened the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in Game One of the highly anticipated Tokyo Series, but they did it without two of their all-stars in the lineup, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
Mookie Betts has been dealing with a virus or stomach bug for the last week before the team even left overseas, which forced him to miss the final two Cactus League games in Arizona.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed over the weekend that despite Betts participating in workouts and pregame activities, the 2018 American League Most Valuable Player Award winner was fatigued and would not play in either of the two exhibition games leading up to the bout with the Cubs on Tuesday.
Betts also confirmed that he had lost 10-15 pounds, and while he had gained some of it back over the last several days, the Dodgers training staff decided that it was best for Betts not to play the two games against the Cubs.
Prior to the start of Game One Tuesday night in Japan, the Dodgers confirmed that Mookie Betts was heading back to the United States to recover and rejoin the team when they host the Los Angeles Angels at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, March 23rd.
As for the 2024 World Series Most Valuable Player Award winner and all-star veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman, he was initially in the lineup card for the Dodgers last night but was a last-minute scratch.
Freeman, who had taken swings before Game One, felt something in his rib, which Dave Roberts confirmed was the same rib injury that had plagued Freeman last October.
However, Roberts did put water to the flame regarding the severity of the issue, saying it was not as severe as compared to last October but severe enough that the Dodgers did not want to risk anything in the first game of the regular season.
Freeman said there’s a 75% chance he can play tomorrow, but I would bet the Dodgers bite the bullet, rest him for the long trip home, and reevaluate once in Los Angeles.
Losing either one of Betts or Freeman for any amount of time is a significant blow to the Dodgers, especially on offense, where two-thirds of their trio atop the order is missing.
Hopefully, all is well when the team travels back home, and we will see the duo back in the lineup on Domestic Opening Day against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, March 27th.
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