The first Dodgers lineup of the 2025 regular season is upon us and with Mookie Betts unavailable due to illness, Miguel Rojas gets the start at shortstop against the Cubs on Tuesday morning at the Tokyo Dome.
Betts has been sick since the final day of spring training camp in Arizona, and lost 15 pounds in the last week. He took part in light workouts at the Tokyo Dome on Saturday, but was ruled out for both games against the Cubs by manager Dave Roberts on Monday in Tokyo (Sunday afternoon, Pacific time).
The Dodgers are using mostly the same lineup as they did in both exhibition games on the trip, against Yomiuri and Hanshin. That includes Rojas batting eighth and playing shortstop, where he started a team-leading 67 times in 2024.
Also in that lineup is Andy Pages batting ninth in center field, which was hinted at by Roberts over the weekend with the Cubs starting two left-handed pitchers during this series, including Shota Imanaga in the opener.
Pages as a rookie in 2024 hit .357/.396/.520 with a 157 wRC+ seven doubles and three home runs in 107 plate appearances against southpaws.
One change from the weekend is that Kiké Hernández gets the start in left field on Tuesday with the left-hander starting on the mound, with Michael Conforto sitting.
Max Muncy is at third base batting seventh, his fourth straight opening day start at third base and seventh consecutive opening day start overall. The only other Dodgers from the 2000s to start that many opening days in a row were Andre Ethier (2007-14) and Clayton Kershaw (2011-18), who each started eight such games in a row.