The Chicago Cubs said all the right things about their trip to Japan. Despite a disruption to spring training, one that would mess with their body clocks and keep them from having a normal build-up to the season, there was never a hint of complaining. Manager Craig Counsell wanted to use the trip as a bonding opportunity, hopefully catapulting the group to a strong start in a critical season.

That they lost two games and come back home facing the toughest schedule in baseball for the first month of the season is just one of many obstacles they now face. They knew this trip would be a challenge in terms of getting their pitchers on a proper schedule to start the season. Before a pair of losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo, Counsell touched on what awaited them upon their return.

“The biggest challenge is not (Tuesday) or Wednesday, it’s going to be on the back end of this as we get back to Phoenix,” Counsell said last Monday. “We started talking about it today with our staff. We’re missing the consistency of preparation for some guys. Unavoidable and part of it, but that’ll be the challenge on the way back.”

Pitching coach Tommy Hottovy believed it was less about what happened upon their return, but how the trip to Japan and the limited opportunities to pitch would impact Chicago’s pitchers’ build-up to the season.

“My thoughts on it, and our data kind of backed it in terms of monitoring guys’ workload, is that we were afraid that the trip to Japan was actually going to de-load guys,” Hottovy said, speaking specifically about the relievers. “Our main guys went and they only threw two games. So that’s basically nine days with only two games, which is significantly lower than what you would do in a normal spring training ramp-up for this time of year.”

At this point in the spring, some relievers are about to get in a back-to-back and, at minimum, have pitched with just one day of rest. With that in mind, Hottovy and his staff had the vast majority of the relievers pitch on Saturday and once again on Monday. That lines them up with the standard two days off before (domestic) Opening Day.

How are the pitchers handling all of this? With the odd schedule, jet lag and head colds going around the team, they aren’t feeling great. But they’re pushing through with the plans and it’s working out as best as they can hope.

“They may not have great outings and feel like crap going through it,” Hottovy said, “but the next day, they’re like, ‘Man, I needed that.’ They needed the higher workload to reset their body a little bit. So it’s a little bit like ripping the band-aid off and getting through it. Because you know you’ll feel better on the back end and get your workload to the right place.”

Not only do the Cubs face a gauntlet of potential playoff teams to start the season, but they’re also one of the few teams to not get a day off after the domestic opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks. That leads to seven straight days before their first off day prior to the home opener on April 4.

“We feel good about Thursday,” Hottovy said. “What’s more concerning is what happens Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Our starters aren’t fully stretched out because we had one less start than you’d normally have. So you’re probably at 80-85 pitches instead of 90-95. And then you have seven days in a row to cover. That’s gonna put a strain on the staff, in general, to make sure we find the right answer to the equation to get the best guys in the game when we need to but also not overload guys too early in the season.”

Every team faces challenges over the course of the season. The Cubs will get one right out of the gate. There will be no let up in the competition they face or the complexities of their schedule. In a season in which team president Jed Hoyer and his front office face immense pressure to return to the postseason, nothing will come easy. Surviving March and April is just the first test for a team with October baseball as its goal.

(Top photo: Kenta Harada / Getty Images)

Sahadev Sharma is a staff writer for The Athletic and covers the Chicago Cubs. Previously, Sahadev was a national baseball writer for Baseball Prospectus and ESPN Chicago. Follow Sahadev on Twitter @sahadevsharma