Al Yellon created Bleed Cubbie Blue and has been its managing editor since 2005. His latest book about the Cubs is "Chicago Cubs Firsts." Find him on Bluesky at @bleedcubbieblue.bsky.social
TOKYO — I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, but walks will just kill a baseball team.
Yes, the Cubs didn’t provide much offense and that’s another story, but the five walks Shu014dta Imanaga and Ben Brown issued in the first five innings of this game resulted in most of the Dodgers runs, and the defending World Series champions defeated the Cubs in Game 1 of the 2025 Tokyo Series, and the Cubs, for the second straight year, drop their season opener to the previous year’s World Series champion.