TOKYO — Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts arrived in Japan this week battling an sickness, and is questionable to be prepared for the membership’s regular-season openers on Tuesday and Wednesday in opposition to the Chicago Cubs, supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned.
Betts didn’t play within the Dodgers’ 5-1 exhibition win over the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Skilled Baseball league, and will probably be once more held out of Sunday’s exhibition in opposition to the Hanshin Tigers.
Nonetheless, as Betts left the ballpark Saturday, he joked that he’s “still alive” and was feeling higher.
“He’s been really sick, lost some weight, so we’re trying to get him hydrated,” Roberts mentioned earlier within the day. “We’ll see how these days go before we even think about making a decision for opening day.”
Betts first began feeling below the climate throughout the Dodgers’ remaining week of spring camp, sitting out their remaining two video games of Cactus League play.
Roberts mentioned there wasn’t a lot consideration to having Betts keep again from the staff’s week-long journey to Tokyo, noting that “the doctors felt it was safe enough for him to make the trip.”
Betts didn’t take part within the Dodgers’ exercise on the Tokyo Dome on Friday, however did take the sphere Saturday for pregame drills. On Sunday, Roberts mentioned Betts is scheduled to have a “full day” of hitting and infield work.
“Then we’ll see how it goes from there,” he reiterated.
On the sphere Saturday, all the eye was mounted — as anticipated — on Shohei Ohtani, who was enjoying in his dwelling nation for the primary time since representing Staff Japan within the 2023 World Baseball Basic.
In his first journey to the plate, Ohtani acquired a loud ovation earlier than drawing a full-count stroll. In his subsequent, he introduced the Tokyo Dome to life, launching a 391-foot, two-run dwelling run to proper area as a part of a five-run third-inning rally by the Dodgers — who additionally bought lengthy balls from Michael Conforto and Teoscar Hernández within the body.
“He just has the ability, when there’s expectations for him, to do something special,” Roberts mentioned.
Identical to on Friday, when the greater than 10,000 followers who attended the Dodgers’ open staff exercise roared on the sight of Ohtani on the sphere, the mere presence of the three-time MVP induced a stir earlier than Saturday’s sellout crowd.
When he took the sphere pregame for a session of catch play within the outfield — Ohtani has maintained his flat-ground throwing classes this week, regardless that he paused bullpen classes close to the top of spring camp in his continued restoration as a pitcher from a 2023 Tommy John surgical procedure — followers stampeded towards the underside of the decrease bowl, roaring in approval with virtually each throw.
When he got here to the plate for the primary time, seemingly everybody in attendance whipped out their telephones to seize the second — getting their first probability to see the nation’s baseball hero in particular person with a Main League Baseball staff.
“This many people came, even though it was an exhibition,” Ohtani mentioned in Japanese afterward. “Personally, it felt like I was back for the first time in a while.”
