The Cubs square off against another NPB squad.
TOKYO — Sunday notes…
- MLB vs. NPB: The Cubs were shut out by the Yomiuri Giants, 6-0, when the teams met at Tokyo in 2000 before the Cubs opened the MLB season against the Mets. The Giants are 24-48-6 in games vs. all individual MLB teams. They own seven wins over the Mets, five wins over the Dodgers; two each over the Cardinals, Giants, Reds and Royals; and one each over the Cubs, Mariners, Orioles and Tigers. All 14 individual MLB teams that have played individual Japanese teams are 68-35-9. The Cubs, at 1-2, are among only three with losing records. The Mets are 4-7-2 and the Giants are 3-7. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
- SO MAYBE IT WAS THE BASEBALL: Per the Marquee broadcast, pitchers for each team are using their league’s baseballs in these MLB vs. NPB games. The Cubs are using an MLB ball, which is slightly bigger and carries a little farther than a smaller NPB ball. (Thanks to JohnW53 for calling my attention to this.)
- THE CUBS AND THE GIANTS: Davey Johnson, Tuffy Rhodes, Hisanori Takahashi and Koji Uehara are the only four players to play for both the Cubs and the Yomiuri Giants during their careers.
Here are today’s particulars.
Lineups were not available at posting time.
Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs. Matthew Boyd is supposed to piggyback with Taillon. Ben Brown and Daniel Palencia could also throw tonight.
Foster Griffin will start for the Giants. Griffin is a former No. 1 pick (2014) of the Kansas City Royals who’s been pitching in NPB for the last two years. Another former MLB player, Japanese star Masahiro Tanaka, is also expected to throw for Yomiuri in this game.
Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. You can find out if Marquee is available via a provider in your area here. It can also be seen on MLB Network.
Please note that during spring training, Gameday sometimes doesn’t go pitch-by-pitch as it does during the regular season — usually, it will update after each at-bat.
Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.
Here is the English-language site for the Yomiuri Giants.
As we have done in the past, we’ll have a first pitch thread at five minutes to game time and one overflow thread, 90 minutes after game time. For today, that will be 4:55 a.m. CT and 6:30 a.m. CT.
These threads will not post individually onto the front page; instead, you can find links to them in the box marked ”Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page. There will also be a StoryStream on the front page with all the game thread links, as well as the recap after the game is over. The pitcher photos and regular-season stats will return on Opening Day.
Discuss amongst yourselves.