This ain't the friendly confines of Wrigley but the Tokyo Dome is notoriously hitter friendly and both teams will be very careful with their young Japanese starters. These homecomings don't always bring out the best in the hurlers, are both pens really tuned up? No breeze to keep balls in and Dodgers can still mash without Mookie. One of Dodgers/Padres games got bonkers last year and 8 of last 12 MLB regular season games in Japan/Korea are over this total. Dodgers/Cubs are over this in 9 of their last 10 meetings, averaging 12 runs/game. Weird start times probably messes with pitchers more than hitters.

Definitely thought about playing Cubs +1.5 for Tuesday morning's season opener in Japan but it might be so rare this season to get the absurdly loaded Dodgers this cheap on the moneyline. Chicago second baseman and leadoff hitter Nico Hoerner will not play in the two-game set coming off surgery. He's not their most important player but a good one at the plate and a Gold Glover in the field. Do think my Cubbies win the NL Central this season, but I worry about the bottom of the lineup and the bullpen a bit and not super confident the Ricketts Family will spend to fix those -- hope I'm wrong. Regardless, the Cubs aren't obviously in L.A.'s class.