MESA, Ariz. — With the Tokyo Series to open the 2025 MLB season approaching in mid-March, the Cubs and Dodgers got a head start on spring training, with both teams reporting to camp a few days earlier than the 28 other clubs. It makes sense then that the two teams played in the first official game of spring training, which took place Thursday at Camelback Ranch, and they followed with a rematch Friday in Mesa.
While only a portion of the teams’ starters participated, these inaugural spring contests featured some notable moments and shined light on several storylines worth monitoring through the remainder of the spring. With their flights to Japan less than three weeks away, here are six observations from the first two Cactus League games between the Cubs and Dodgers.
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Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s cutter is nasty
Yoshinobu Yamamoto got the start for the Dodgers on Thursday and threw 27 pitches across 1⅔ innings of work. Although his 2024 was interrupted midsummer by a shoulder injury that sidelined him for three months, Yamamoto’s highly anticipated rookie season was broadly a success, with a tremendous final outing in World Series Game 2, in which he one-hit the Yankees across 6⅓ innings.
On Thursday, Yamamoto’s fastball, curveball and splitter — his three primary offerings — all looked sharp, but it was his cutter that stood out in his brief outing.
The pitch touched 94.3 mph to strike out Nicky Lopez to end the first inning, which tied the highest velocity Yamamoto registered with the pitch last year (it averaged 91.5 mph). Let’s see if he can sustain a higher velocity on that pitch this season and/or if he amplifies its usage after throwing it just 6% of the time in 2024.
Bobby Miller feeling fine after scary comebacker
This is a big spring training for right-hander Bobby Miller, who endured one of the more extreme sophomore slumps in recent memory last year (8.52 ERA) after excelling as a rookie in 2023. Unfortunately, Miller’s debut spring outing was cut short Thursday when he was struck on the head by a Michael Busch line drive in the top of the third inning. Thankfully, Miller was able to walk off under his own power and seems to have avoided any significant injury. Miller entered concussion protocol postgame but arrived to camp Friday having slept fine and feeling generally OK.
It was a scary moment that will have the Dodgers taking it slow with the 25-year-old for a little while, but…