Dodgers (Sasaki) vs Cubs (Steele): 3/19/25, 5:10am

[NorthsideAvenger]

I am going to hold onto this grudge about MLB making these two games "count" until the Cubs eliminate the Dodgers from the playoffs. 

[squally1313]

56 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Each team was the home team one game in London. Each team lost 1 game from their home schedule. 

That's false. In 2024 the Phillies and Mets split the home games, but for whatever reason in 2023 the Cardinals were home for both. Wikipedia page for the London series backs this up. 

[Derwood]

And now its 8 days before the next game that counts for anything

[UMFan83]

18 minutes ago, Derwood said:

And now its 8 days before the next game that counts for anything

Cactus League resumes on Friday!

Obviously I wouldn't expect any regulars in that one (except maybe one of the starters), but I wonder how they deploy the regulars for the final 5 games of Cactus League play.  This is usually when teams start to lock in and play their regulars most of the game, but the Cubs will be dealing with jet lag for the next couple of days and then there's just a couple games left before the next opening day in Arizona.

Guessing Shota and Steele might pitch an inning on their throw day, but otherwise rest until Arizona.  The other 3 starters are gonna need to get at least ~50-60 pitch start in there and the relievers maybe an inning or two to stay fresh.

Edited March 19, 2025 by UMFan83

[Rcal10]

36 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

That's false. In 2024 the Phillies and Mets split the home games, but for whatever reason in 2023 the Cardinals were home for both. Wikipedia page for the London series backs this up. 

WOW, that is my bad. Worse than you think too. I was at game 1 in that series and could have sworn the Cubs were the home team. I think the reason I though this was because they sang go cubs fo after the win, and I think Clark came out with the W flag. Either way, you are correct. My bad. 

[JHBulls]

The Dodgers are owned by the Guggenheim Partners, who were the main sponsor of the Tokyo Series. Chicago Cubs were the home team in both games. Makes complete sense. 

The Ricketts family must have been paid an absolute bundle. 

Edited March 19, 2025 by JHBulls

[Wilson A2000]

2 hours ago, JHBulls said:

The Dodgers are owned by the Guggenheim Partners, who were the main sponsor of the Tokyo Series. Chicago Cubs were the home team in both games. Makes complete sense. 

The Ricketts family must have been paid an absolute bundle. 

And Cubs season ticket owners still have to pay for 81 games

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

And Cubs season ticket owners still have to pay for 81 games

It was absolute money grab and, I guess, to a much lesser extent, making an impression for future Japanese prospects.  Although, I believe making a good impression is nearly an exercise in futility.  The Dodgers have the monopoly on the top Japanese prospects.  Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the effort, see Sasaki - a complete charade and waste of time.

Edited March 20, 2025 by gflore34

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

And Cubs season ticket owners still have to pay for 81 games

I paid for 79 games. 

[Stratos]

13 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

He did get paid. As the home team the Cubs get the gate. And unlike games in the states, this is not shared with the rest of baseball. Doesn’t count towards their revenues. That is why he wanted to be the home team in both games. He couldn’t care less about losing 2 home games and having to play in a park where the Cubs were obviously not the home team in the eyes of the fans. He couldn’t care less if they lost. This was great for Ricketts because he gets the money without sharing. 

Hey nice we lose 2 games at Wrigley too.  We got screwed.

[JHBulls]

You’ve got to appreciate the absolute shithousery of the Dodgers. Sign all these great players, including the best Japanese player in the world, win the World Series, sign the Japanese pitcher with “the best pitch in baseball” for minimum wage, sign the best relievers, have “best record in baseball history” aspirations this year. Be the “road” team in the first up Japan series where the Dodgers are literally the home team in terms of fans in the stadium….. which funnily enough means the Dodgers are virtually playing 83 home games, thanks to the opposition owners thinking they are being clever. 

The Dodgers have evil empired the Yankees.

Edited March 20, 2025 by JHBulls

[CubinNY]

Shouldn’t focus on the Dodgers. 

[TarzanJoeWallis]

Why are so many people losing their horsefeathers over two horsefeathers games?

[Jason Ross]

10 minutes ago, TarzanJoeWallis said:

Why are so many people losing their horsefeathers over two horsefeathers games?

My favorite is when the Cubs inevitably drop a random three game series to "Insert Bad Team Here" in July or whatever., 

[gflore34]

7 hours ago, JHBulls said:

You’ve got to appreciate the absolute shithousery of the Dodgers. Sign all these great players, including the best Japanese player in the world, win the World Series, sign the Japanese pitcher with “the best pitch in baseball” for minimum wage, sign the best relievers, have “best record in baseball history” aspirations this year. Be the “road” team in the first up Japan series where the Dodgers are literally the home team in terms of fans in the stadium….. which funnily enough means the Dodgers are virtually playing 83 home games, thanks to the opposition owners thinking they are being clever. 

The Dodgers have evil empired the Yankees.

If their pitching holds out maybe they've a chance at the "best record in baseball history" and that's a big if, they've got some effective but, fragile arms.

[thawv]

22 hours ago, Rcal10 said:

He did get paid. As the home team the Cubs get the gate. And unlike games in the states, this is not shared with the rest of baseball. Doesn’t count towards their revenues. That is why he wanted to be the home team in both games. He couldn’t care less about losing 2 home games and having to play in a park where the Cubs were obviously not the home team in the eyes of the fans. He couldn’t care less if they lost. This was great for Ricketts because he gets the money without sharing. 

Where did you hear that the Cubs got all the money from tickets?  I read that they split the ticket sales.  How it's split is unknown. 

[thawv]

16 hours ago, UMFan83 said:

Cactus League resumes on Friday!

Obviously I wouldn't expect any regulars in that one (except maybe one of the starters), but I wonder how they deploy the regulars for the final 5 games of Cactus League play.  This is usually when teams start to lock in and play their regulars most of the game, but the Cubs will be dealing with jet lag for the next couple of days and then there's just a couple games left before the next opening day in Arizona.

Guessing Shota and Steele might pitch an inning on their throw day, but otherwise rest until Arizona.  The other 3 starters are gonna need to get at least ~50-60 pitch start in there and the relievers maybe an inning or two to stay fresh.

I would assume that they work backwards from each SP starts, and have them throw on that day while also letting them go deep in the game.   

 

Edited March 20, 2025 by thawv

[Rcal10]

2 hours ago, thawv said:

Where did you hear that the Cubs got all the money from tickets?  I read that they split the ticket sales.  How it's split is unknown. 

Maybe not exactly how I described it, but there was some subtle difference that allowed Ricketts to pocket more money then he would have had the games been played at Wrigley.
 

See Matthew Trueblood story on 2/27. 

Edited March 20, 2025 by Rcal10

[chibears55]

21 hours ago, 1908_Cubs said:

I think the easy answer is "it's still spring training" for these guys. April can already be a bit of a transition period for players, and the Cubs were playing a game that counted weeks before they normally would on another continent. Weird situation. 

I'd have liked for them to look a bit sharper, but I won't blame them for not, either. 

It ST for the Dodgers too, hate to see what the scores would of been if both Freeman and Betts were playing. 

Just shows how much far behind the Cubs are to the Dodgers talent wise at this point in the season, I just hope they're ready to go come April with the schedule they have and don't put themselves in a big early hole to dig out of.

They have 29 games, be nice if they can win close to 15 of them.

[Jason Ross]

13 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

It ST for the Dodgers too, hate to see what the scores would of been if both Freeman and Betts were playing. 

Just shows how much far behind the Cubs are to the Dodgers talent wise at this point in the season, I just hope they're ready to go come April with the schedule they have and don't put themselves in a big early hole to dig out of.

They have 29 games, be nice if they can win close to 15 of them.

Right, but I don't think this is a "talent" thing, per se. Sure, the Cubs aren't the Dodgers, but let's not like like the chasm here is the Dodgers and the White Sox. It's like, the defacto best team, and maybe the 8th best team.

It's also probably a decent deal to do with experience. The Cubs have a lot of youth. Who struggled this weekend? Guys like Shaw (rookie), PCA (second year, first OD), Busch (second year) and then think of who struggled the most for the Dodgers? Sasaki - rookie, first OD. Who didn't struggle? A lot of the guys who had "been there done that" like Kirby Yates, Kike Hernandez, Shohei Ohtani.... Is it really surprising? Probably not. This is a complete oddity of a baseball game, during a time when players are just trying to get into a grove. Add in a completely different continent...

Let's not try to make this more than it is. If these games were held in Sloan Park, no one would care. I get that they count, but we should probably care about the minutia in a similar vein. 

[CubinNY]

12 minutes ago, chibears55 said:

It ST for the Dodgers too, hate to see what the scores would of been if both Freeman and Betts were playing. 

Just shows how much far behind the Cubs are to the Dodgers talent wise at this point in the season, I just hope they're ready to go come April with the schedule they have and don't put themselves in a big early hole to dig out of.

They have 29 games, be nice if they can win close to 15 of them.

The biggest difference was the pitching, starting and relievers. 

I don't think we can make too much out of any two games in the season, let alone the pomp and circumstance of this series. It's 0-2 and not a big deal one way or the other. 

[chibears55]

3 hours ago, TarzanJoeWallis said:

Why are so many people losing their horsefeathers over two horsefeathers games?

For me it not that they loss but how they looked losing those games.

It basically looked like games 163 and 164 off of last season with the hitters, couldn't hit in clutch, lots of strikeouts.

Their 2 best hitters Tucker and Suzuki combined for 1 hit and 2 BB in 18 PA

Overall pitching was ok, but sucked to see Steele get rocked

[Andy]

11 hours ago, JHBulls said:

You’ve got to appreciate the absolute shithousery of the Dodgers. Sign all these great players, including the best Japanese player in the world, win the World Series, sign the Japanese pitcher with “the best pitch in baseball” for minimum wage, sign the best relievers, have “best record in baseball history” aspirations this year. Be the “road” team in the first up Japan series where the Dodgers are literally the home team in terms of fans in the stadium….. which funnily enough means the Dodgers are virtually playing 83 home games, thanks to the opposition owners thinking they are being clever. 

The Dodgers have evil empired the Yankees.

Their TV deal happening to come up at the height of the cable bubble, and them signing a 20-year deal for next-level stupid money when in theory such a length for any media rights deal is insane and ridiculous, was a really impactful moment.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

It's 0-2 and not a big deal one way or the other.

but they're the only 0-2 team in all of MLB

[gflore34]

1 hour ago, CubinNY said:

The biggest difference was the pitching, starting and relievers. 

I don't think we can make too much out of any two games in the season, let alone the pomp and circumstance of this series. It's 0-2 and not a big deal one way or the other. 

Exactly, biggest difference was pitching, the Dodger lineup of Ohtani and mostly replacement level players is nothing special.