Major League Baseball announced Thursday that… The 2025 season begins in Japan for the first time since 2019 and the sixth time in league history. That inaugural matchup will feature four of the country’s biggest baseball stars — Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shōta Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki — as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs play at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19, 2025.
The Cubs’ return trip to Japan to open a season will fall on the 25th anniversary of MLB’s first visit there, when Chicago faced the New York Mets in 2000. The league returned in 2004 (New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays), 2008 (Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland Athletics), 2012 (Seattle Mariners vs. A’s) and 2019 for a Mariners-A’s rematch that included the final two games of Ichiro Suzuki’s MLB career.
This will be the Cubs’ third time playing overseas, following the Tokyo Series in 2000 and their trip to London, England, in 2023. The Dodgers are traveling to Japan for the first time, but it will be their fourth time appearing internationally after being in Sydney, Australia, in 2014, Monterrey, Mexico, in 2018, and Seoul, South Korea, to start the 2024 MLB season.
Other highlights from the 2025 MLB schedule
March 31st: The A’s home opener against the Cubs at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, after the A’s began the season with four road games in Seattle.
May 16-18: The top league rivals will meet six times in 2025, with one of their two series coming during “Rivalry Weekend” in mid-May.
July 15: 95th MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta
September 28: Final day of the 2025 regular season. Many of the day’s matchups will feature division rivals, including the Orioles against the Yankees and the Cardinals against the Cubs.