Dodgers ambush Cubs after wasted opportunity vs. Shota Imanaga in Tokyo Series opener

The months-long wait for Dodger baseball ended at 3:00 AM in LA, when the Dodgers officially opened their season in Tokyo against the Cubs. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga were the pitchers on the mound for a storybook matchup in their home country, with Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, and Seiya Suzuki all in tow to capitalize on Japan's ravenous appetite for baseball.

Through four innings, Yamamoto and Imanaga made the game a true pitchers' duel, with both wielding devastating trademark splitters, but they also showed some cracks in their armor. Imanaga gave up four walks to Dodgers hitters, while Yamamoto gave up just one walk but three hits. Still, the Cubs were able to capitalize where the Dodgers weren't; a run for Chicago came around on a Miguel Amaya double in the bottom of the second while LA remained scoreless.

Imanaga exited the game having no-hit the Dodgers through four, and some of those old, creeping fears about hitting with runners on set back in.

However, the Dodgers pounced as soon as Imanaga, who was brilliant apart from the walks, was replaced by Cubs rookie Ben Brown in the fifth. Andy Pages got to first on a one-out walk, then Ohtani collected his first hit of the season with a single that put runners on the corners. Tommy Edman followed with an RBI single, then Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith kept the train rolling from there to take a 3-1 lead by the end of the top of the fifth.

Dodgers surge vs. Cubs after suffering hitless four innings against Shota Imanaga in Tokyo Series opener

Hernández's ground ball should've meant an easy double play for the Cubs to end the inning; it was scooped by top Cubs prospect Matt Shaw (in his MLB debut) and slung to new Cub Jon Berti at second, but Berti sent the throw to first way over Michael Busch's head, allowing Ohtani to score for the Dodgers' lead. Smith's hit to score the third LA run was a no-doubter, though — a base hit that landed in shallow left field despite shortstop Dansby Swanson's attempt to grab it over his head.

Although it took an inexperienced pitcher coming in for the Dodgers to get the bats going, a run is a run. Imanaga had some uncharacteristic issues with his control, but the Dodgers struggled to make anything other than soft contact against him.

Despite giving up the one run, Yamamoto looked dialed. His velocity was up to 98 in the first inning alone, and he was dotting the splitter for some devastating swings and misses. It's a nice start to the season for the Dodgers, even if the lineup (which was missing both Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman due to illness and injury concerns respectively) gave fans a scare in the beginning there.