How are the Cubs looking after two games in Tokyo?

Under different circumstances, an 0-2 start to the season for the Cubs — especially against the defending World Series champion Dodgers — wouldn’t be cause for alarm. Frustration, yes, but not real concern. That should probably be just as true now, but the Tokyo series has amplified the attention on the first two games of the season beyond what’s typical.

Like Tuesday’s game, their 6-3 loss on Wednesday showcased plenty of reasons to feel good about the Cubs in 2025, but just as many reasons to worry just a little. Let’s start with one of those reasons:

Justin Steele’s struggles

On Wednesday, Steele more or less continued with what has been a rocky spring for him. In the Cactus League, he has a 9.35 ERA in three starts where he has given up 14 hits in 8 2/3 innings. Against the Dodgers in Tokyo, he struggled with more of the same. Steele has 10 strikeouts to zero walks in Arizona, and on Wednesday he still notched five strikeouts with just one walk in four innings but got peppered with base hits and gave up five earned runs.

If he were walking more batters, there might be cause for greater concern, but at this point, the hits are less of a problem. Steele is still showing effective command, as evidenced by the high number of strikeouts, so there is reason to be confident that he’ll be fine.

Of course, if he does struggle more this season, that throws a serious wrench in things for the Cubs. They are banking on him and Shota Imanaga for the top two spots in the rotation. The front office put an emphasis on adding pitching depth this winter, but the arms they added aren’t meant to cover for a struggling ace.

Matt Shaw at the hot corner

He did have an error in Tuesday’s game, but Shaw is already looking pretty comfortable at third base. He made a couple of great plays at the hot corner in game two of the Tokyo series, including this gem in the seventh inning:

Matt Shaw can glove it.

pic.twitter.com/JKdSbapwYW

— CHGO Cubs (@CHGO_Cubs) March 19, 2025

This is especially impressive given that the playing surface at the Tokyo Dome is faster than most fields Shaw has played on, and definitely faster than Wrigley. So if he can make this kind of play in Japan, it’s safe to bet Shaw can handle the hot corner at home.

Shaw also collected his first major league hit on Wednesday (maybe it could have been scored an error, but it’s a hit in the box score!), so the initial look at Shaw is mostly positive. For a guy with no prior major league experience and who missed a chunk of spring training with an oblique injury, he handled the pomp and circumstance of the Tokyo series really nicely.

Two games aren’t going to show that Shaw is ready to be the full-time third baseman, but they are enough to relax at least a little. The Cubs explored veteran options at third base to supplement Shaw, but as things currently stand, he might get the majority of the starts there.

Jon Berti: Useful depth piece

Though his throwing error in Tuesday’s game proved costly, Jon Berti has given plenty of reasons to like this signing already. The Cubs have him on a one-year, $2 million deal this winter with the idea that he will provide depth for the infield. Berti has experience at second, shortstop, and third base. In the long term, he might be there to give Shaw days off at third, but because Nico Hoerner did not make the trip to Japan, Berti got the start at second base in both of the Tokyo games.

Berti had a 3-for-4 day on Wednesday and stole a base in both games. He led the league as recently as 2022 in stolen bases, with 41. And on defense, he played cleanly after the error on Tuesday. When the rest of the regular season begins next Thursday, Berti will probably factor into the third base mix more, and if he is nearly as productive on offense as he has been all spring (.333 batting average) and in Tokyo, this is quality depth.

Easy with the free passes

If there is an early red flag, it is the number of walks the pitching staff issued in these first two games: 15 in all.

After Steele left Wednesday’s game, Craig Counsell used five different relievers to cover the remaining innings, and three of them issued at least one free pass. Julian Merryweather walked two in the seventh inning, Porter Hodge one in the eighth, and closer-to-be Ryan Pressly walked three in the ninth.

While it’s best not to overreact to two games, the bullpen played a major part in making the 2024 season go awry, so there is going to be extra scrutiny on this part of the team, especially so because of the additions the front office made during the offseason to fix the problem. And to be fair, almost all of the walks on Tuesday were from Imanaga and Ben Brown. Once the rest of the bullpen took over, only Ryan Brasier walked a batter.

Looking ahead

The Cubs will head back to Arizona, where beginning on Friday they have five more games at Sloan Park to finish spring training. And from there, the Cubs’ domestic opener is against the Diamondbacks, and then they will travel to Sacramento to play the Athletics. When they finally return to Wrigley Field on April 4, it’s for a homestand against the Padres and Rangers.

That’s a tough slate made even tougher by the travel. A hot start to the season is nice, but the Cubs have a very, very hard schedule throughout the month of April, so fans might have to be patient and wait for May, when things get a little easier.