TBNL: Japan Series starters named; Canadian Hall of Fame class announced

Los Angeles is already demonstrating their confidence in Roki Sasaki. Dave Roberts appeared on MLB Network on Wednesday before the team’s first full day of workouts, laying out his current thinking for their season-opening series next month in Japan.

Chicago manager Craig Counsell also revealed on Sunday that Shota Imanaga would get the start in one of the two games for the Cubs. That means at least three of the four starters in the series will be Japanese natives. Tickets for the series were already in high demand before these announcements.

Shohei Ohtani is not expected to be pitching until May, so he will only hit in the series.

The Dodgers and Cubs will play two games at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19.

Bautista, Bédard to enter Canadian Baseball HOF

Six new members of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame were revealed on Wednesday. Induction ceremonies will be held on June 7 in Ontario. Among the inductees are three with MLB ties.

Former Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista headlines the group. Bautista spent 10 years in Toronto where he was a force in the heart of the Blue Jays lineup. The right-handed slugger hit .253/.372/.506 with 288 home runs over that stretch while going to six All-Star Games, finishing in the Top 10 in MVP voting four times, and winning three Silver Slugger Awards.

Ontario-born Érik Bédard also joins the Class of 2025. Bédard spent 11 years in the majors with six teams (most of his time came with Baltimore and Seattle), posting a 3.99 ERA (107 ERA+) over 1,303.2 IP (241 games, 230 starts). The left-hander finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting in 2007, after going 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA (146 ERA+) over 182 IP.

The Canadian HOF’s Veteran’s Committee will also recognize former Montreal city councilor Gerry Snyder. Snyder played a pivotal role in bringing the Expos to Montreal in 1968. Snyder’s efforts were also central to the city landing the 1976 Olympics. He passed away in 2007.

Baseball United set to hold first games

Originally founded in 2022 with the hope of expanding baseball’s footprint in the Middle East and South Asia, Baseball United is set to hold its inaugural season later this year beginning in October. Each of the five teams — based in cities in India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (two teams) — will play 12 regular season games. The top two will square off in a best-of-three championship series.

Baseball United announced last August that they would hold a round-robin tournament from Feb. 22 to March 1 to kick off anticipation for the upcoming launch. The Baseball United Cup will feature the league’s first four franchises — the Mumbai Cobras, Karachi Monachs, Arabia Wolves, and Mid East Falcons.

Even before that, the Wolves and Falcons will play a three-game exhibition series this weekend in Dubai. According to a press release from Baseball United, per worldbaseball.com, the series will be broadcast on MLB.TV. Albert Pujols will join the broadcast team to provide color commentary.

MLB Hall of Famers Barry Larkin and Mariano Rivera were directly involved in the league’s initial founding. More than 20 former players have since joined them in various capacities, lending their expertise in various areas of the league’s structure (including serving as general manager for some of these teams). Many others made themselves available for the league’s draft in October 2023.

A former pitcher, an idiot racist, and a boxing ring

After Sunday’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, a fight nearly broke out on Bourbon Street.

Okay, maybe that’s a typical occurrence for a Sunday night in New Orleans. But it’s not often the near-altercation involves a pair of former MLB pitchers. The whole thing was caught on social media and, naturally, went viral.

A presumably inebriated John Rocker recognizes Pat Mahomes on the street. They exchange words and need to be physically separated.

Rocker spent six years in the bigs, saving 88 games while posting a 3.42 ERA (132 ERA+) over 255.1 IP with four teams. Rocker is best known, however, for a racist-fueled interview published in December 1999 by Sports Illustrated in which he attacked several former teammates and the people of New York City.

Mahomes pitched for six teams over his 11-year career, including for the Mets when Rocker’s interview came out. Across 709 IP, he posted a 5.82 ERA (81 ERA+). Mahomes may be best known at this point thanks to the success of his son, Patrick Mahomes Jr., whose team lost Sunday’s big game.

The duo jarred with each other via social media throughout the day Tuesday. Then, on Wednesday, it was announced that had agreed to step into the ring and actually box each other (leaving at least some wondering if the whole thing was just a publicity stunt). The event will reportedly take place on April 19 at the B*rstool-sponsored Rough N Rowdy event (I won’t link to the report or the event considering the sponsor; it’s enough I mentioned them).

Expectations should not be high heading into this “fight” but it’s safe to suggest most might be on Team Mahomes here.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Netflix and the Boston Red Sox partnered on a pair of documentaries last spring. The first, The Comeback, premiered in the fall and focuses mainly on the team’s improbable comeback and historic run to the 2004 World Series title. The second, an eight-part docuseries called The Clubhouse: A Year With the Red Sox, will premiere on April 8.