Cody Snavely
With the all-star week wrapping up yesterday and the second half of games ready to get underway tonight, the big focus for the Dodgers and other contending teams is the games in front of them now until October.
However, Major League Baseball yesterday dropped the full 2025 regular season schedule and announced that the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs will kick off the 2025 regular season with a two-game series in Tokyo, Japan.
The Dodgers are no strangers to opening the regular season overseas. In 2014, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Dodgers played a series in Sydney, Australia, and a few months ago, the San Diego Padres and Dodgers played a two-game set in Seoul, Korea.
It is the first time any Major League Baseball team has opened back-to-back seasons internationally. Still, for the Los Angeles Dodgers, it makes all the sense in the world since their star player, Shohei Ohtani, is an international icon, especially in Asia.
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.
As for why the Dodgers and Cubs were chosen as the two represented teams, it comes down to the number of Japanese players on the team and the cultural impact each franchise has on the international market, as the Cubs and Dodgers are among the most well-known franchises around the world.
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.
The Cubs also have a long-standing presence in Japanese culture and have only added to their history in the last few offseasons, bringing in left-handed starter Shōta Imanaga and outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
It was reported months ago that the Dodgers would headline the Major League Baseball World Tour in 2025 with a trip to Japan. Still, nothing was ever officially confirmed, and a few weeks ago, many Dodgers news outlets stated the opposite.
However, on the Bleed Los Podcast, we recently had Pantone 294 founder Alex Soto, who all but confirmed that the trip was happening after speaking to some Dodgers brass about the topic.
The Dodgers ownership group will also sponsor the series after a deal between them and Major League Baseball.
Major League Baseball and Guggenheim announced a new partnership which names the global investment and advisory firm as presenting sponsor of the 2025 Tokyo Series. The Tokyo Series presented by Guggenheim will feature the Los Angeles Dodgers taking on the Chicago Cubs to open the 2025 season at the Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19.
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