The Rundown: Roster Decisions Nearly Finalized, Prospects Mash in Breakout Game, Gallo Wants to Pitch

We are less than 24 hours away from Opening Day, and as a person of Irish descent, I’d like to thank MLB for scheduling the Cubs’ first regular season game at 5:10am the day after St. Patrick’s Day. I might have to go light on the green beer and corned beef today. Then again, the libations may help me forget Jed Hoyer’s “The Art of the Bullpen” series that has run for consecutive seasons. Chicago’s relievers blew 18 saves last season, so fingers crossed that the group leaves Tokyo unscathed.

Ryan Pressly will be the supposed savior of this year’s relief corps, but pump the brakes just a bit. A few readers have made predictions in our comments section this past week, and I’ve got one of my own: Porter Hodge will get 30 or more saves in 2025. Here’s another: Chicago’s bullpen will be the strength of this team. It’s so good that I’ve read some reports indicating Tyson Miller might not make the Opening Day roster.

I’m also counting on 35+ home runs from Seiya Suzuki and Kyle Tucker, and 20-25 dingers from Ian Happ, Michael Busch, Dansby Swanson, and Matt Shaw.

Chicago’s youth provides another reason to get excited. Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong return for their sophomore seasons following torrid springs. Shaw will join the duo, and it looks like Gage Workman will also. Shaw got a late start but has had some nice at-bats, while Workman might get regular reps until Nico Hoerner returns.

The Cubs’ lineup is set, and we may have seen a preview during the exhibition leg of the Tokyo Series. I prefer Workman over Jon Berti at second base, but that might not matter. Hoerner is expected to return by March 27, when Chicago visits Arizona for the second series of the regular season. With that in mind, I’ll make my roster projection for the team’s Opening Day reboot, which occurs 10 days from now.

• Catcher: Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly
• First Base: Busch
• Second Base: Hoerner
• Shortstop: Swanson
• Third Base: Shaw
• Outfield: Happ, Crow-Armstrong, and Tucker
• DH: Seiya Suzuki
• Bench: Workman, Vidal Bruján, and Justin Turner
• Rotation: Justin Steele, Shōta Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, Matthew Boyd, and Ben Brown
• Swing: Colin Rea or Brad Keller
• Bullpen: Rea or Keller, Pressly, Hodge, Miller, Ryan Brasier, Nate Pearson, and Caleb Thielbar

You’ll notice that Jordan Wicks, Julian Merryweather, and Keegan Thompson did not make my roster. Wicks has remaining minor-league options, but the other two do not. Another pitcher will be sacrificed once Javier Assad returns. Berti and Kevin Alcántara are the tough cuts among Chicago’s hitters. I prefer Alcántara over Bruján, but I’m sure the front office wants the young outfielder to get everyday at-bats with Iowa.

Cubs/Dodgers News & Notes

• Jed Hoyer has a legitimate extension candidate in Crow-Armstrong, but I’d like to see the team lock up Steele first.
• PCA’s style of play and hustle transcends language barriers in Tokyo.
• The second-year centerfielder is honored to be recognized on a global stage.
• The Dodgers are the more popular team in Tokyo, but it looks like the Cubs are cutting into Los Angeles’s popularity.
• Both teams have rich histories of signing Japan’s biggest stars.
• Hoyer isn’t leaving anything to chance in his pursuit to make the postseason.
• Chicago’s president of baseball operations spearheaded the organization’s pursuit of Pacific Rim players ($), which is why the Cubs are so popular in Japan.
• Boyd and Taillon looked great in Chicago’s exhibition tilt with the Yomiuri Giants. Shaw also had a big game.
• Shaw grew up in Boston, modeled his game after Dustin Pedroia, and hopes to find similar big-league success.
• The Cubs will know how well they match up with the Dodgers after the two-game series in Tokyo.
• The Dodgers are the game’s gold standard or the league’s biggest villains, depending on who you ask.
• Mookie Betts will not play against the Cubs because of an undisclosed illness.
• Brown is being given “serious consideration” as the team’s fifth starter.
• Swanson is mentoring Shaw to help the rookie get better acclimated to big league baseball.
• Alcántara, Moises Ballesteros, James Triantos, and Cristián Hernandez had two hits apiece in the Spring Breakout game against the Angels. Cade Horton looked good, too, finishing with three strikeouts in two innings of work. The Cubs won the game 8-3.
• Ex-Cubs Anthony Rizzo and Yan Gomes are among five players who are looking at forced retirement. José Abreu, Matt Carpenter, and J.D. Martinez are the others.

Odds & Sods

Nobody is having more fun in Tokyo than Turner.

Justin Turner found two young fans in Japan that were wearing a beard like his 🥹 pic.twitter.com/PYpW2H6HGv

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) March 16, 2025

Central Intelligence

• Milwaukee: Second-year starter Tobias Myers is dealing with an oblique injury, though the Brewers have not publicly stated its severity.
• St. Louis: Manager Oli Marmol is considering a six-man rotation to start the season, which runs contradictory to other teams that don’t go to a five-man rotation until necessary, usually the second or third week of the season. The Cardinals might break camp with a rotation that includes Sonny Gray, Erick Fedde, Steven Matz, Miles Mikolas, Andre Pallante, and Michael McGreevy.
• Cincinnati: The Reds may have the best double-play combo in baseball now that Matt McLain is healthy and paired with Elly De La Cruz.
• Pittsburgh: The Pirates announced that Paul Skenes will be their Opening Day starter. No shocker there.

Spring Training News & Notes

Joey Gallo was released by the White Sox on Sunday, and immediately announced his plans to convert to pitching.

The Royals named Cole Ragans as their Opening Day starter for the second consecutive season.

Six MLB players will be honored with a special gold patch on their uniforms this season: Skenes, Luis Gil, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Chris Sale, and Tarik Skubal. All were award winners last season.

Kodai Senga added a new pitch to his repertoire, and it’s called a “Miracle Ball.” Senga is already famous for a pitch known as the “Ghost Fork.”

Extra Innings

Shaw will be doing a lot of this in 2025…

4-0 in the fifth! pic.twitter.com/Dc6JKMDsz6

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) March 16, 2025

They Said It

• “We went after Seiya hard. In the process of that pursuit and thinking about the number of players who could come over in the future, we talked to Tom [Ricketts] about making a much bigger investment over there… We spent the money to try and get a foothold there. I think it’s paid off.”– Hoyer
• “We’re in Japan [today], in part, because we have [Suzuki and Imanaga]. That’s a great thing for our brand. It also opened up a lot of great business opportunities for us. My hope is it’s just the start of something [bigger].” – Hoyer
• “We have a really good ball club, and I also think we have a really good opportunity to have a lot of success this year and to get to the playoffs and have a run at the World Series. I say it every year, that’s our goal is to get to the World Series and win. I don’t see a whole lot of point in showing up just to come out and play some games and go home at the end of the day. You want to come up, show up and win. That’s kind of what our jobs are revolved around.” – Tucker

Monday Walk-Up Song

Felt like a good morning to throw it back to the early 1980s and a Buddy Holly reincarnation.