With the team going with a bullpen day for their first exhibition game in Japan, Merryweather opened for the Cubs against the NPB’s Hanshin Tigers. And after a relatively subdued first half inning, the chants began soon after Merryweather took the mound for warmup pitches.

The Chicago Cubs are one of two MLB clubs capping off their Spring Training in Japan, but few expected the outcome of their first outing.

A cacophony of chants, horns, drums and cheers greeted Julian Merryweather as he faced the Hanshin Tigers, while the Chicago Cubs hitters experienced a very different atmosphere in the 3-0

This week, Suzuki returned to his hometown of Tokyo, representing the Cubs in his fourth MLB season. “My goal is to stay in this league and play for as long as I can, until my body stops working,” Suzuki said. “Here [in MLB] it’s so hard with age, but also, whenever your performance drops, there’s always that next guy up.”

Suzuki was showered with applause in his return to Japan as a member of the Chicago Cubs, but it was the Hanshin Tigers who came out on top in the exhibition game.

Seiya Suzuki remembers being in the Tokyo Dome when Hideki Matsui returned with the Yankees as part of MLB’s season-opening series in 2004. Matsui launched a mammoth home run deep into the right-field stands and a 9-year-old Suzuki was within the wild,