Smoking areas in clubhouse, no pitch clock: MLB players get a little taste of baseball in Japan

TOKYO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers can party like it's 2022 on the baseball field for a few days in Japan, and even like it's 1982 in the clubhouse.

There are a lot of similarities between baseball in the U.S. and Japan, but there are also subtle differences that will be on display as the Cubs and Dodgers play in the Tokyo Dome. That's particularly true over the next few days when they play exhibtion games against the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants.

From pitch clocks to smoking in clubhouses, here are a few of the quirks:

Japan's highest professional baseball league — Nippon Professional Baseball — doesn't use a pitch clock, which has had a huge effect on Major League Baseball since the rule was established in 2023.

In MLB, pitchers have just 15 seconds to deliver a pitch when the bases are empty and 18 seconds with runners on base. They also only get two disengagements from the pitching rubber, limiting the number of times they can attempt to pick runners off base.

The changes drastically reduced game times in the U.S., cutting roughly 30 minutes from the average contest. Initially, players were lukewarm to the changes, but for the most part have adapted.

But the pitch clock won't be used in the exhibition games in Japan.

Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd — who is expected to pitch in relief on Sunday against Yomiuri — said it might be tempting to take a few extra seconds between pitches, but that probably won't be smart.

After all, the pitch clock will be back for the regular season games in Tokyo on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“As much as I'd love to continue to pick off multiple times at first base and take 30 seconds between pitches, I don't think it would be in my best interest to do that because I'm trying to prepare to win a championship.”

Then he grinned. Those pre-2023 days had their perks.

“It's a lose-lose question. The rules are the rules and I'm going to stick to them.”

Cubs manager Craig Counsell had a playing career in the big leagues that spanned from 1995 to 2011, and the two exhibition games have an old-school vibe that he says he'll enjoy.

Early in Counsell's career, statistical and video analysis were rare in the game. If Counsell wanted to know what an opposing player's pitch mix was, he couldn't consult hours of video, he just asked the guy hitting before him.

These days, players have droves of information on every possible aspect of the game. That won’t be possible against Hanshin and Yomiuri.

“We get to play two games where there's not a lot of information and that's fun — especially as an older person,” Counsell said. "Going back to an era when I played, we might have to ask the hitter before, 'what's he got?' That was the advanced scouting report.

“I think that's fun. We'll see if our hitters like it.”

If the first exhibition game was indication, probably not much. Hanshin's pitchers gave up no hits until the sixth inning when Miguel Amaya finally smacked a single that got past the shortstop.

The Cubs finished with just three hits in a 3-0 loss.

The NPB and MLB use two different baseballs, so when Japanese teams are in the field, they use their version of the ball during the exhibitions. The Cubs and Dodgers will use the MLB ball when they are pitching.

Boyd said he tried the Japanese ball before the game and there are subtle differences, like the height of the seams.

Back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, it wasn't that uncommon to see pictures of MLB players lighting up a cigarette after a big game, but those days have almost completely passed.

That's not necessarily the case in Japan.

The Cubs' cramped third-base clubhouse at the Tokyo Dome had an enclosed area that looked like a phone booth where players could grab a smoke if they're ready to go old school. Nobody on the Cubs took up the offer on Saturday, but hey, there's time to grab a pack of heaters and light one up if someone's interested.

The first exhibition game between the Cubs and Hanshin on Saturday was completely packed, with a capacity crowd in a building that holds 42,000.

The biggest difference was the constant coordinated cheers from the right field stands — complete with a band — that felt like a mix of soccer and college football. There were also the workers who walk around the park with small kegs of beer on their back, ready to pour one out at any moment for thirsty fans.

Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki, who had one of the team's three hits on Saturday, said the scene brought back good memories.

“It's been a little while since I heard those Tigers' cheers, I got goosebumps hearing them,” Suzuki said through an interpreter. “Just feeling how passionate they are, it was good.”

Suzuki was asked if the fans at Wrigley Field should do the same thing.

“I fear that something wild would happen," he said, smiling. “Let's just keep it the way it is.”

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Players of Los Angeles Dodgers warm up during a training session in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, ahead of the Dodgers to play their MLB opening games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome next week. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs comes on to the ground for a training session at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, as the Cubs play their MLB opening games against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the venue next week. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

A man, center right, hands out a ball to a child after he caught it as it was thrown into spectators during the Chicago Cubs' training session at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, as the Cubs play their MLB opening games against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the venue next week. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers participates in a practice session at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, as the Dodgers play their MLB opening games against the Chicago Cubs at the venue next week. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Shota Imanaga of the Chicago Cubs participates in a training session at Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, as the Cubs play their MLB opening games against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the venue next week. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)

Players of Los Angeles Dodgers warm up during a training session in Tokyo, Friday, March 14, 2025, ahead of the Dodgers to play their MLB opening games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome next week. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)