TOKYO — They call him the “Monster of the Reiwa Era” here in his native Japan, but years ago this was a scene that Roki Sasaki could not have ever envisioned. Not after the tragedy that shaped his youth and wiped away his town of Rikuzentakata. Not even in high school, when he was a precocious right-hander with a triple-digit fastball and a growing legend around him.
To imagine he would be here on Wednesday night, making his Major League Baseball debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers, much less in his home country’s defining baseball moment in the season-opening Tokyo Series against the Chicago Cubs, would have been unthinkable.
“To be able to make my debut in the Tokyo Dome is something my high school self would have been very surprised about,” Sasaki said this week.
Now, there might not be a pitcher in MLB this summer who brings more curiosity. Imperfections and all, as he showed over three innings in the Dodgers’ 6-3 victory over the Cubs. For the Dodgers, the reigning World Series champions, Sasaki represents a luxury item whose dazzling potential can help them continue their run of contention into perpetuity. For the Cubs, he is a reflection of what could have been.
The Cubs wanted Sasaki this winter too, as they were one of several teams to meet with him and his representatives this past December. No player this offseason offered as much promise or as much hand-wringing. His recruitment this winter reflected his promise, even if his decision to sign with the Dodgers appeared to some to be a foregone conclusion.
His first three pitches in the majors hit 100 mph. His fourth, 101 mph. His splitter is “the best pitch I’ve ever seen,” teammate Anthony Banda said. It tumbles and cuts and fades unpredictably with wicked movement. That was enough to overcome the growing pains that presented themselves over three innings.
Roki Sasaki gets his first Major League strikeout! #TokyoSeries pic.twitter.com/oX7iIARjJk
— MLB (@MLB) March 19, 2025
Thirty-one of the 56 pitches he threw were balls. Five of the 14 batters he faced walked. Sasaki regularly missed his spots, spraying pitches out of the strike zone. The first run he allowed in the major leagues came at the end of three straight walks, the last one coming with the bases loaded. It took until his final batter of the night for him to truly test out a third pitch.
It was electric. It was maddening. It was fascinating. It was a potential embarrassment of riches that the Dodgers would be the ones to oversee this experiment, capturing Sasaki’s peaks while having enough of an organizational infrastructure to handle the almost inevitable valleys that will come this summer.
Sasaki’s debut inspired the kind of intrigue usually only reserved for the likes of Shohei Ohtani. The Japanese television broadcast tracked every moment, flashing shots of the 23-year-old Sasaki from the mound to the dugout to the tunnel, where an open door showed him in real time processing the night he’d spent years dreaming of.
He is still an unfinished product, the Dodgers have stressed throughout this process. But a tantalizing one for a team that, for two nights in Tokyo, has done little to shed doubt on their status as worldbeaters — even while playing both games without former MVPs Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
As Sasaki spent three innings limiting the damage of his creation, they took turns pouncing on the Cubs’ Justin Steele. Will Smith drew a leadoff walk in the second inning, coming around to score when Max Muncy doubled and Chicago catcher Carson Kelly let a slider squirt to the backstop as part of a two-run frame. Home runs from Tommy Edman and Kiké Hernández only added to the advantage.
The early damage allowed Ohtani to provide a crowning moment to a festive night, launching a long fly ball off Cubs reliever Nate Pearson that stood as a home run upon replay review and sent the building dubbed “The Big Egg” into a frenzy.
Hours earlier, Ohtani made a confession. The man whose presence has become a central figure in Japanese life on celebrity status alone felt nervous upon his return to play major league games in his home country.
Imagine how Sasaki felt.
Late in Tuesday night’s victory, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts slid over to Sasaki’s seat in the dugout and broached the subject with his new pitcher. The manager has spent much of the spring learning to read Sasaki, whose shy nature has started to show signs of personality as the weeks have unfolded.
“It’s a big moment,” Roberts said.
But one the Dodgers are cautious not to read too much into. They witnessed this situation a year ago when Yoshinobu Yamamoto — given the richest contract ever for a pitcher after an accomplished career in Japan — lasted just one inning in his big league debut. It was, Roberts said this week, “a debacle.” It was all but forgotten by October when Yamamoto showed flashes of dominance for a Dodgers team that won the World Series.
“There’s a ton of emotions that I can’t even appreciate,” Roberts said. “I don’t think any one of us can. And so he’s gonna go out there and do the best he can. He’s gonna compete. And the key is he just continues to get better.”
(Top photo: Kenta Harada / Getty Images)
