After wrapping their abbreviated Cactus League slate, the Dodgers on Thursday announced their 31-player travel roster for their trip to Japan that culminates with the Tokyo Series against the Cubs from March 18-19.
First pitch for both games is 3:10 a.m. PT/6:10 a.m. ET. The season opener will be broadcast on FOX, while the finale of the two-game set will air on FS1.
Like in last year's Seoul Series, all 31 players can participate in the Dodgers' exhibition games at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday. Los Angeles takes on the Yomiuri Giants at 3 a.m. PT and the Hanshin Tigers at 8 p.m., and both games will be broadcast on SportsNet LA.
The Dodgers will need to whittle their roster down to 26 active players for the games against the Cubs, and they can reset their roster ahead of their domestic opener against the Tigers on March 27.
Here is Los Angeles' full travel roster for the Tokyo Series:
Catchers (3): Austin Barnes, Hunter Feduccia, Will Smith
Infielders (4): Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas
Outfielders (4): Michael Conforto, Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez, James Outman, Andy Pages
Utility Players (3): Tommy Edman, Kik¨¦ Hern¨¢ndez, Chris Taylor
Two-Way Player (1): Shohei Ohtani
Starters (7): Nick Frasso, Tyler Glasnow, Landon Knack, Blake Snell, Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski, Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Relievers (9): Anthony Banda, Ben Casparius, Jack Dreyer, Luis Garc¨ªa, Matt Sauer, Tanner Scott, Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Kirby Yates
Here are a few takeaways from the roster reveal:
Clarity at second base and center field
The Dodgers' most prominent position battles this spring were linked, and there now appears to be some resolution. Hyeseong Kim will not make the trip to Japan, making it likely that Edman will play second base and one of Pages or Outman -- or perhaps one of L.A.'s utility options -- will play center field on Opening Day.
Kim, who joined the Dodgers on a three-year, $12.5 million deal after eight years in the KBO, was a candidate to take over second base in the wake of the offseason deal that sent Gavin Lux to the Reds. He spent camp working through adjustments to his swing, and while the Dodgers have been encouraged by his progress, they decided it would be more beneficial for Kim to remain in Arizona and continue getting regular at-bats. He will begin the season with Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Fifth starter battle decided
The Dodgers plan to use a five-man rotation until Ohtani is ready to return to a big league mound, and the first four spots were locked down going into spring: Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Sasaki. By the end of camp, Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May were the leading candidates for the final spot. Both are coming back from major injuries and had performed well in their Cactus League outings.
Manager Dave Roberts said on Tuesday that Gonsolin sustained a back injury in the weight room and will start the season on the injured list, putting May in line to be the fifth starter once the regular season is underway. Just like the Dodgers did last year with James Paxton, May will stay behind in Arizona to continue building up instead of joining the team in Japan.
Arms aplenty
Similarly to last year's Seoul travel roster, the Dodgers opted to bring more pitchers (16) than position players (15). They have every healthy pitcher on the 40-man roster on the trip -- save for May, and including Frasso, who was optioned in the first round of spring cuts -- plus a trio of non-roster invitees in Garc¨ªa, Sasaki and Sauer.
That includes seven pitchers who have spent the spring preparing as starting pitchers, although the team will only need four traditional starters in Tokyo (likely Glasnow and Snell in the exhibition games, and Yamamoto and Sasaki against the Cubs).
Though not all of those starters will make the active roster for the Tokyo Series, several should wind up being options in long relief. Roberts has spoken about the value of having length in the bullpen early in the season, especially coming off a shortened spring when pitchers have had less time than usual to ramp up.