The 2025 MLB season officially kicks off on March 18 when the Chicago Cubs take on the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tokyo Series. But the big question facing Chicago involves top prospect Matt Shaw’s availability for the season opener.
On Wednesday it was reported that Shaw received bad news regarding an injury that could prevent him from playing in Tokyo. However, the following day, the same reporter had a very different take.
“Matt Shaw told me… he will start playing in games the next few games with no hesitation or restrictions,” 670thescore.com’s Bruce Levine wrote on X.
That would put the Cubs’ third baseman on track to make the trip to Japan in a couple weeks and play in the Japan Series after all.
The Cubs hope to debut top prospect Matt Shaw in Tokyo
Shaw suffered an oblique injury in early February and has been hampered by it since. At the time Cubs’ manager Craig Counsell wasn’t concerned with any long-term issues stemming from the ailment, telling reporters that the didn’t “anticipate any problems” as Shaw was “responding really well.”
Two weeks later, the problem persisted and Shaw was in danger of missing his first major league start. Now, after the latest update in this injury saga, the 23-year-old infielder appears good to go.
Shaw entered the offseason as the 19th overall prospect in MLB. He’s, obviously, the top-ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system. In two seasons in the minors, across four levels, Shaw has played in 159 games. He slashed .303/.384/.522 with 29 home runs, 28 doubles, 99 RBI and 105 runs scored to go along with 46 stolen bases.
While the Cubs pursued free agent veteran Alex Bregman this offseason, the team ultimately lost him to the Boston Red Sox. While disappointing, missing out on the veteran created a path to the majors for Shaw as Chicago will start their top prospect at the hot corner.
Now he just needs to get healthy in time for the start of the season, which comes a week and a half earlier for the Cubs and the Dodgers than the rest of the MLB. Baseball has held regular season games in Japan for 25 years and the Cubs actually played in MLB’s Tokyo debut back in 2000. Now Chicago hopes to debut their exciting infielder in Tokyo on March 18.
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