The first lineup of the year for LA, against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. Third baseman Max Muncy makes his 7th consecutive opening day start

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.

Breakdown and details of the first 26 active players for LA, including five players making their first opening day roster, plus 11 players on the injured list to open the year.

The Dodgers announced their opening day roster on Monday night, ahead of their Tuesday opening day contest against the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

Because the Dodgers and Cubs are starting their season more than a week before anyone else, there is a slight difference to their rosters than the norm. Both teams had to cut down to 29 players for opening day rather than the usual 26. But three of the players are exempt, and not available to play in these two games.

For the Dodgers, starting pitchers take up those three exempt spots, with Dustin May back in Arizona building up his innings, plus Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, who each pitched in Sunday’s exhibition game against Hanshin.

The Dodgers brought 31 players on their travel roster for the Tokyo Series, including Snell and Glasnow. Catcher Hunter Feduccia was optioned to the minors on Friday. That left two more roster cuts to get down to the opening day 26.

With Mookie Betts unavailable to play but still active, the Dodgers have 14 position players active for the two games against the Cubs, including both Andy Pages and James Outman.

The other two players not active are both pitchers — Nick Frasso, who was technically already optioned back in camp on March 2, and non-roster Matt Sauer.

On the pitching side, two non-roster invitees were added to the roster, headlined by Roki Sasaki, who will start Wednesday against the Cubs for his major league debut. Right-hander Luis García were also added. To make room on the 40-man roster, Michael Grove and Brusdar Graterol were placed on the 60-day injured list.