As Dodgers break camp, Roki Sasaki continues to shine with another scoreless outing

Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times on Mar 11, 2025

Published in Baseball

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PHOENIX — It felt like the last day of school at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday as the Dodgers cleaned out lockers and prepared to break camp, with some heading to Tokyo for the first two games of the season and the others moving over to the minor league complex.

Dozens of Dodger blue duffel bags filled with gloves and bats littered the carpeted floor. Players also filled huge cardboard boxes with other personal items then sealed them with packing tape. Outside, clubhouse workers filled two huge tractor trailers bound for Dodger Stadium and an oversize moving van with equipment headed for Japan.

"We're talking pallets and pallets and pallets," one overwhelmed clubhouse attendant said.

Every other team soon will be performing a similar ballet as spring training draws to a close. And though moving day is a bit more complicated for the Dodgers, who are taking a detour to Japan on their way home, it's something the team has gotten used to since it has opened the season overseas three times since 2014.

"We kind of know what to expect this year," said Will Smith, who caught the Dodgers' opener in Seoul, South Korea, last March. "A different country, but it's still over in Asia. And we're on a flight and we come back and our bodies are going to react and stuff."

Like last year in Seoul, the Dodgers will play two exhibitions in Tokyo and their opening two games with the Chicago Cubs before returning home to play the Angels in the Freeway Series. Smith said keeping track of which games count and which ones don't isn't difficult.

"It shouldn't be," he said. "It wasn't so hard last year. You're trying to win every ballgame."

What is complicated is the packing. So Smith, who had to weave his way through duffel bags, suitcases and cardboard boxes to get to his locker in the corner of the clubhouse, relies on the clubhouse staff to tell him what to pack for Tokyo and what to send home to L.A.

"Our clubbies are pros at it," Smith said. "They do a really good job."

Speaking of doing a really good job, rookie Roki Sasaki, who will start the second game of the Cubs series in Japan, tuned up for that appearance Tuesday with four shutout innings against the Cleveland Guardians.

Sasaki was efficient, throwing 41 pitches and giving up just a hit and two walks while striking out two, extending his streak of scoreless innings to seven. After coming out, the right-hander finished the day with a short session in the bullpen.

His teammates drew 11 walks through three innings and 13 for the game to beat the Guardians, 10-4, and finish the Cactus League season with a 12-8 record.

"There were a few things that didn't go the way I wanted today. I sort of reverted to some bad habits," Sasaki said through an interpreter. "But to have those come out in a game before opening day so that I can adjust them in time is a good thing.

"I definitely feel like I'm getting better."

Sasaki, 23, who spent the last four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese league, said he's honored to make his major league debut in Tokyo.

"To be able to pitch in Japan is going to be a really special and unique opportunity," he said. "Obviously being able to pitch in the major leagues is something that I worked for a long time to be able to do. I'm really excited."

The Dodgers did not release their 31-man roster for Japan Tuesday afternoon. Earlier the team announced that Dustin May will be the fifth starting pitcher, rounding out the rotation with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Sasaki, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow. The competition for the final spot was between May and Tony Gonsolin, who both missed last season because of injuries.

Gonsolin, who injured his back lifting weights, will begin the season on the injured list.

May, who will not make the trip to Japan, made three spring appearances, two of them scoreless, striking out six and giving up just three hits in five innings.