TOKYO — Friday night (US time)/Saturday noon (Japan time) notes…
Here are today’s particulars.
The Hanshin Tigers lineup was not available at posting time.
Julian Merryweather will start for the Cubs. Here are the Cubs relievers on the list for this game, in alphabetical order: Ryan Brasier, Ben Brown, Porter Hodge, Brad Keller, Tyson Miller, Eli Morgan, Daniel Palencia, Ryan Pressly, Caleb Thielbar and Jordan Wicks. That’s 11 total pitchers so… if all of them go, some of them will throw less than an inning. I’d also guess if any of them don’t appear today, those guys will throw in Sunday’s game against the Yomiuri Giants.
Keitu Mombetsu will start for the Tigers. Looks like a guy to keep our eyes on for possibly coming to MLB in the future.
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.
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 9:55 p.m. CT and 11:30 p.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.