Japanese stars Yoshinobu Yamam...

In the opening game of the 2025 MLB season on Tuesday, the Los Angeles Dodgers demonstrated just how stacked they are in pursuit of their second consecutive World Series title, beating the Cubs 4-1 at the Tokyo Dome.

After the Cubs took an early lead in the second inning, the Dodgers' offense got going in the fifth and never looked back. Japanese star Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-5 and scored two of the Dodgers' runs.

The starting pitchers did their jobs in their home country, with Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto going five innings, striking out four and allowing one run. Cubs lefty Shota Imanaga didn't allow a hit but issued four walks against two strikeouts in four innings.

The Cubs mustered only three hits against Dodgers pitching, all of them in the second and third innings. Dodgers relievers took the baton from Yamamoto and kept rolling, with Tanner Scott getting his first Dodgers save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Cubs relievers didn't have the same luck, with Ben Brown surrendering three runs in the fifth after a walk to Andy Pages, hits from Shohei Ohtani and Tommy Edman, and an error by second baseman Jon Berti. Will Smith tacked on another run before Brown struck out Max Muncy to end the threat.

In the ninth, Ohtani led off with a double, reached third on an Edman groundout and scored on a Teoscar Hernández single to give the Dodgers some insurance.

Before the game, Freddie Freeman was scratched from the lineup due to rib discomfort. Mookie Betts did not play because of an illness. Freeman said after the game that he felt discomfort during batting practice, but that there's a "75 percent chance" that he's back Wednesday.

The teams will play again at the same time (6:10 a.m. ET) Wednesday, with the Dodgers' newest Japanese addition, Roki Sasaki, making his MLB debut against Cubs starter Justin Steele.

Fantasy baseball takeaways

The Cubs didn't put up much of a fight in this one — Yoshi Yamamoto threw 72 pitches in five innings, while the Dodgers' bullpen made mincemeat out of the Chicago lineup — but it probably hurt fantasy managers to see new Cub Kyle Tucker put up a big fat zero across the board nonetheless. Better days are ahead (or rather, better series). Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, however, matched his countryman in Dodger Blue well, throwing four innings of scoreless ball (he did allow four walks but escaped unscathed). Imanaga looks like a solid choice for drafters who'd rather wait until the fifth and sixth rounds to address pitching.

On the other side of the box score, Shohei Ohtani looked every bit of the consensus No. 1 pick, going 2-for-5 with his first runs of the season. The heart of the Dodgers' order — sans Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts — all delivered RBI. Something to monitor is Michael Conforto's place in the lineup; he batted seventh Tuesday and delivered a double. He has been a popular late-round sleeper candidate this draft season.

Back to that Dodgers bullpen. Los Angeles possesses an embarrassment of riches out of the 'pen, but it was lefty Tanner Scott who got the first save of 2025. Sure, the Dodgers were up by three runs — would Scott have gotten the ball if they were up by only one? — and the team has a plethora of seasoned late-game options, but we have to accept what we see on the field: Tanner Scott should be the first Dodgers reliever drafted in 2025.