Nippon Professional Baseball Commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara revealed Wednesday that Major League Baseball has set March 19 and 20 as the dates for a season-opening series in Japan next year.
Sakakibara, who met MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred last month in South Korea, said, "We spoke about the plan going forward on those dates."
On March 20 and 21 in Seoul, MLB held its first regular season games in the country, between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. A March 24 USA Today report said the Dodgers would open the 2025 season in Japan against the Chicago Cubs.
Each team currently has two Japanese players on its roster. The
Dodgers have two-way star Shohei Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, while the Cubs have outfielder Seiya Suzuki and pitcher Shota Imanaga.
"It would be great if it works out like that, but nothing is decided at this moment. I was told he wanted teams that would deliver high quality baseball," Sakakibara said of his talks. Tokyo Dome is a candidate to host the games.
