(Image credit: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
The Dodgers started Cactus League spring training play Thursday against the Chicago Cubs at their Camelback Ranch training facility in Glendale, Arizona.
Chicago and Los Angeles will play another game this Friday at Sloan Park in Mesa.
Arizona Cactus League Association games don't count in regular season standings but provide Major League Baseball players an opportunity to train.
The Cubs and Dodgers will depart Arizona in mid-March for the March 18-19 Tokyo Series, plus exhibition games against the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers in the days leading up to the regular-season games in the Tokyo Dome.
The L.A. team plays without Shohei Ohtani and Freedie Freeman for now.
Ohtani underwent successful arthroscopic shoulder surgery Nov. 5 "to repair a labrum tear that resulted from a left (non-throwing) shoulder dislocation" during Game 2 of the World Series, according to the team.
Ohtani injured the shoulder sliding while trying to steal second base in the seventh inning of the Oct. 26 game against the New York Yankees. Despite the injury, he played in all remaining games of the series.
Freeman underwent a procedure consisting of debridement and the removal of loose bodies from his right ankle in Dec. 5. He sprained his ankle on Sept. 25 and missed the last three games of the regular season, then played through the injury in the postseason.
Right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start for the Dodgers. He is also expected to start the reigning World Series champions' regular-season opener March 18 against the Cubs in Tokyo.
Yamamoto was 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA in 18 regular-season starts last season, his first in Major League Baseball after seven seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. He was 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in four postseason starts, winning Game 5 of the National League Division Series and Game 2 of the World Series.
Yamamoto was on the injured list from June 16 to Sept. 10 due to a strained rotator cuff.
Right-hander Cody Poteet will start for Chicago, who acquired the former UCLA standout from the New York Yankees Dec. 17 in exchange for center fielder Cody Bellinger, the 2019 National League MVP when he played for the Dodgers, along with cash.
Poteet was 3-0 with a 2.22 ERA in four starts and one relief appearance in 2024. He did not pitch in the postseason.
Because both teams will be starting the regular season early, Thursday's game is the first spring training game of 2025 for all of Major League Baseball.
"I wish I had a couple more days," Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “But it is what it is. And I know the guys are excited to get back out there."
The game is available to watch on SportsNet LA.
Additional reporting by City News Service.
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