Jed Hoyer peels the curtain back on Cubs' pitching plans for Tokyo Series

Spring Training started for the Chicago Cubs on Sunday as it was reporting day for pitchers and catchers. The Cubs' first full-squad practice is on Friday but Sunday served as the platform for Jed Hoyer to give his annual State of the Cubs address as the team begins their preparations for the 2025 season.

The question that everyone wants to know is if Alex Bregman will be soon be arriving to camp for the Cubs but given the nature of Major League Baseball free agency, Hoyer sidestepped that question. In a similar way to how Hoyer handled Cody Bellinger questions at the start of last year's Spring Training, the focus was on who the Cubs currently have on their roster.

The Cubs were the first Major League Baseball team to report to Spring Training this season. The early start is due to the Cubs opening their regular season play with two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Japan on March 18 and March 19.

Along those lines, Hoyer may have tipped Craig Counsell's hand when talking about the rotation plans for the games against the Dodgers.

The Cubs reveal the worst-kept Shota Imanaga secret.

As of now, it is a safe bet to point to Shota Imanaga starting one of the games against the Dodgers in Japan with Justin Steele getting the nod in the other game. Short of the Cubs making a surprise trade for an ace-caliber starting pitcher before Opening Day, Steele and Imanaga will sit atop the team's rotation this season.

The games between the Dodgers and Cubs will feature several top players who have made the transition from Japan to Major League Baseball, with Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki all expected to be the Opening Day rosters for each team. In the case of Ohtani, the Dodgers have already suggested the two-way superstar may not pitch until May, ruling him out for having a start against the Cubs.