MESA, Ariz. \u2014 Cubs right-hander Jameson Taillon never stopped throwing after the 2024 season.<\/p>\n
He wasn\u2019t pitching off a mound in October or anything like that, but he kept playing catch. It was part of trying something new this offseason, even after he shortened his time off the year before to a month.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019ve just found the older I get, the more time I take off, the worse I feel,\u2019\u2019 Taillon said Tuesday. \u2018\u2018So it\u2019s good to just keep it moving.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The adjustment flowed smoothly into the program the Cubs had designed for him. Because they\u2019re playing in the Tokyo Series on March 18-19 against the Dodgers, the Cubs moved up their pitchers\u2019 offseason work. They needed to make sure they would have enough arms ready to compete in those two games, which count toward the regular season.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the rise in pitcher injuries has been an MLB-wide concern. Accelerating pitchers\u2019 offseason programs for Tokyo wouldn\u2019t make sense if it made the risk of injury greater.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We did a lot of research internally,\u2019\u2019 pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. \u2018\u2018Not just me, but people way smarter than me, doing some really cool digging on how much time it takes for tissue to adapt in the offseason, to repair; how we can do that without just completely shutting down and losing workload.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
The Cubs gave pitchers a heads-up about the unique timing of the offseason in exit interviews last fall, then had them do things such as throwing around a football.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Tried to stay active, so that when we hit that ramp back up, we were at a full zero,\u2019\u2019 Hottovy said. \u2018\u2018We were hovering slightly above that. That was going to allow us to shrink that timeline just a hair.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
With the extra work done on the front end, the Cubs plan to run the next four weeks of camp as usual, albeit with earlier reporting dates.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a nine-day difference between the first game of the Tokyo Series and Opening Day in the U.S., but Cubs starters don\u2019t necessarily have to be fully stretched out.<\/p>\n
When the Dodgers and Padres played in South Korea around the same time last season, the most pitches anyone threw was 77 by the Dodgers\u2019 Tyler Glasnow. In that same game, the Padres\u2019 Yu Darvish threw 72. But in Game 2, the Dodgers\u2019 Yoshinobu Yamamoto, making his MLB debut, threw only 43.<\/p>\n
The Cubs will have plenty of days off on either side of the Tokyo Series to line up their pitching plan.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018We have the ability to adjust based off how guys are feeling, how they\u2019re recovering,\u2019\u2019 Hottovy said. \u2018\u2018So I think there\u2019s a lot of ways we can go. I also think there\u2019s opportunities to have multiple starters in the game if we want to piggyback guys. Because it\u2019s such a unique situation, the sky\u2019s the limit with how we want to put that together.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
It\u2019ll be a unique experience, too.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I want to go over there and play good ball,\u2019\u2019 Taillon said. \u2018\u2018And whether it\u2019s an exhibition or in a game, I really want to pitch in the Tokyo Dome. I think it\u2019d be pretty cool to say you\u2019ve done that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Taillon, a coffee connoisseur and a collector of Pokemon cards, said he already has started scouting his spots for both. Left-hander Shota Imanaga, who is set to start one of the Tokyo Series games, and outfielder Seiya Suzuki plan to throw a team get-together.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s going to be an incredible trip,\u2019\u2019 manager Craig Counsell said. \u2018\u2018It\u2019s going to be an incredible cultural trip for us. It\u2019s an incredible team-building trip for us. And it\u2019s an incredible baseball experience for our guys.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018So in all measures, we are fortunate that we get to do this trip.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Cubs and Dodgers will open the MLB season in Japan more than a week before Opening Day in the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":33519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n