GOODYEAR, Ariz. – Cubs right-hander Ben Brown has thought through the hypothetical of, what if he could go back to last year, when a “benign area of concern” on his neck – essentially a non-cancerous growth – wiped out more than half of his season.

“I don’t even know if I would do anything different,” he said last week. “I’d still want to pitch until I couldn’t pitch anymore. And I’d still try to come back all year, hoping I was going to come back. I think it’s just something that baseball players have to go through. And the biggest thing with injuries, in my opinion, is the way you bounce back from them. And I think the greatest people that we see, even in modern-day baseball, they get hurt, and they come back just as good.”

Brown stretched out to 3 ⅔ innings in his last start, on March 6. Though he allowed three runs in the fourth inning, he retired the first nine batters he faced in order. And he’s been working on a changeup to add a third element to his pitch mix.

“We made jokes about it,” Brown said, “but right now, I probably feel more comfortable with my changeup than I do with the other two.”

In a normal year, the fifth starter battle would be heating up the week before Opening Day. But with the Cubs heading to Japan Tuesday, for the two-game Tokyo Series next week, no such decision has to be made.

The Cubs are expected to announce the rest of their travel roster decisions Tuesday morning, including whether they’re going to bring Brown and left-hander Jordan Wicks, two young pitchers in the rotation battle.

With two exhibition games and two regular season games for Cubs pitchers to cover, length will be important. But the Cubs also don’t need to carry all of their starters on the active roster – or even necessarily on the travel roster.

They are expected to throw a bullpen game for the first exhibition game and piggyback two starters for the second. Shota Imanaga is slated to start Opening Day, and Justin Steele is in line for Game 2.

Alcántara in lineup

Cubs outfielder Kevin Alcántara was in the lineup on Monday, after exiting the game Sunday as a “precaution.”

“He felt a little shoulder pain on the swing,” manager Craig Counsell said Monday. “Then gave him 15 seconds that he was fine, essentially.”

Counsell likened the decision to pull Alcántara to the Cubs scratching center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong last week. The team is going to take an extra-cautious approach in spring to avoid injury.

“He showed up [Monday] feeling perfect,” Counsell said of Alcántara.

In his first at-bat, Alcántara lined a double into center field with an exit velocity of 109.6 mph, according to Statcast.

Assad first bullpen

As expected, right-hander Javier Assad (strained left oblique) will begin the season on the 15-day injured list, Counsell said Monday.

“We’ve got a significant ramp up to go,” Counsell said of Assad’s bullpen Saturday, “but all signs are good.”

Cubs 7, Guardians 4

It was Shota Imanaga’s last start before the Tokyo Series. He allowed four runs in the second, temporarily leaving the game after the seventh batter he faced that inning. But thanks to spring training rules he was allowed to re-enter and pitch 4 ⅓ innings total. “I think the important part is stacking up those [up-downs],” Imanaga said. “But I learned today how much fatigue that is with the longer innings, longer outings.”

• Lefty Jordan Wicks threw four scoreless innings out of the bullpen Monday, relieving starter Shota Imanaga. Wicks has posted a 2.08 ERA this spring.
• On deck: Brewers at Cubs, 3:05 p.m. Tuesday, Mesa, Marquee, Jacob Misiorowski vs. Justin Steele.