Inside The Cubs

Chicago Cubs Jeered By Tokyo Crowd After Intentionally Walking Shohei Ohtani

Craig Counsel's situational math didn't win him any favors with the partisan Tokyo crowd after the Chicago Cubs walked Shohei Ohtani.

Declan Walsh

Mar 18, 2025; Bunkyo, Tokyo, JPN; A general view of the main scoreboard prior to the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers vs Chicago Cubs during the Tokyo Series at Tokyo Dome
Mar 18, 2025; Bunkyo, Tokyo, JPN; A general view of the main scoreboard prior to the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers vs Chicago Cubs during the Tokyo Series at Tokyo Dome / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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The Chicago Cubs are returning home from Japan with an 0-2 record.

It was an unfortunate draw to pull the reigning World Series champion to start their season, especially when factoring in the shorter prep schedule to have this two-game set played on March 18 and 19.

Still, there were plenty of highlights from these contests, and one of them turned out to be pretty humumors.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani stepped to the plate during Tuesday's Game 2 matchup of the Tokyo Series, and with two outs in the seventh inning, the sold-out Japanese crowd recognized it could be their final chance to watch their most accomplished countryman play in an MLB regular season game.

The situation on the basepaths, however, deprived Ohtani of a potential last chance to shine at the Tokyo Dome.

With a runner on second, Cubs manager Craig Counsell elected to intentionally walk Ohtani and fill the empty base, leading to a cacophony of jeers and visible signs of disapproval from the Japanese faithful.

Counsel's decision ultimately proved to be the right one.

Chicago's pitcher Julian Merryweather induced a ground out against Tommy Edman to escape his only inning of work unscathed and preserve the deficit at three.

It was Merryweather's first action of the 2025 regular season and Cubs fans are hoping for an improved season in 2025 compared to a year ago when the middle reliever allowed 11 runs in 15 innings pitched.

The Tokyo Dome crowd ultimately rose to its feet one more time as Ohtani backdoored his way into another plate appearance with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but while the Japanese slugger wasn't intentionally walked, he advanced to first after watching four balls sail well below his knees.

Edman squandered a dangerous opportunity for Los Angeles once again, this time grounding into a 4-6-3 double play, but Chicago was unable to make up the three-run deficit.

The two-game Cubs-Dodgers series marked the official start of the MLB regular season, but Chicago will return back to Arizona and complete its slate of final spring training action.

The Cubs will remain in the desert as regular-season play resumes March 27 with a four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks before debuting at Wrigley Field on April 4 against the San Diego Padres.

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Declan Walsh
DECLAN WALSH

Declan Walsh is an MLB Writer for On SI and has previously covered women’s basketball for NCAA.com and served as a trending writer for 247Sports. He graduated from the University of Florida in 2023 and completed undergraduate internships at The Palm Beach Post and Sports Illustrated. Declan grew up in the very real central New Jersey and now lives in Philadelphia. You can follow him on Twitter @declanaw.

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