Cody Snavely
The Dodgers, fresh off their brief two-game series in Seoul, Korea, against the NL West rival San Diego Padres are back home to finish off Spring Training before Thursday’s domestic Opening Day match vs the St. Louis Cardinals.
However, prior to the start of game one against the Angels CBS Sports Bob Nightengale, the Cubs and Dodgers were privately informed they had been selected to open the 2025 MLB season in Tokyo.
It will be the first time since the 2019 season that Major League Baseball will be played in Japan after the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners opened up the 2019 season across the Pacific.
The Dodgers and Cubs were selected for next year’s potential game, which makes sense given the high amount of high-profile talent from Japan on both teams’ rosters.
The Dodgers arguably have the two most popular players right now from Japan: two-way star Shohei Ohtani and young right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who both signed with the Dodgers this past offseason. Along with the long historical presence of Japanese culture and fandom in the city of Los Angeles.
As for the Cubs, they also have a long-standing presence in Japanese culture and have only added to the history the last few offseasons, bringing in left-handed starter Shōta Imanaga and outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
Nothing has been made official as of yet, but Dave Roberts was asked prior to today’s game about the rumor, to which he responded below.
I have heard rumblings, I hope we’re included, I know there’s nothing finalized yet. But obviously, it would make a lot of sense.
via Dave Roberts prior to 3/24/24 game vs Angels
The moral of the story for Dodgers fans is to get ready to watch some early morning baseball at the beginning of next season.
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