Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs to Open 2025 MLB Regular Season in Tokyo

The 2025 MLB regular season schedule has been released, and the Los Angeles Dodgers will once again open the year overseas, this time against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo.

Jul 15, 2024; Arlington, TX, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Shohei Ohtani speaks with Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga (r) before the 2024 Home Run Derby at Globe Life Field. | Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Dodgers will be opening up the regular season overseas.

In 2024, the Dodgers played the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea. In 2025, they will be matching up with the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan. It will be a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome, with games being played on March 18 and 19.

This marks the first time ever that an MLB has opened back-to-back seasons with overseas games, as noted by the Los Angeles Times' Jack Harris.

It will also serve as the 25th anniversary of the first MLB regular season game played in Japan, which featured the Cubs facing the New York Mets in 2000. MLB has since returned to Tokyo in 2004, 2008, 2012, 2019 and now 2025.

Both sides features prominent ties to Japan. The Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto this past offseason, while the Cubs added Shota Imanaga to Seiya Suzuki.

While the Dodgers have yet to play in Tokyo, they have logged games in Sydney, Australia, and Monterrey, Mexico, plus this year's series in Seoul. The Cubs, meanwhile, played in London, England, in 2023, on top of their Japanese debut back in 2000.

MLB announced the entire 2025 regular season schedule on Thursday, locking in matchups for every team. The Dodgers-Cubs matchup in Tokyo is the only one set to take place outside of the United States or Canada, continuing MLB's World Tour.

There were preliminary plans for MLB to schedule games in Paris, France, in 2025, but that was called off last fall. Mexico City and San Juan, Puerto Rico, were also looked at as potential host sites for regular season matchups, although those plans apparently didn't come to fruition either.

Opening Day for the rest of the league is scheduled for March 27. Excluding international series games, it will be the earliest Opening Day in MLB history.

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