2025 MLB schedule: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers begin season in Japan; A's face Cubs in Sacramento home opener

Sean Leahy

Major League Baseball announced Thursday that it will begin the 2025 season in Japan for the first time since 2019 and sixth time in league history. That opening matchup will feature four of the country's biggest baseball stars in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shōta Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs will play at the Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19, 2025.

The Cubs' trip back to Japan to open a season will fall on the 25th anniversary of MLB's first visit there, when Chicago took on the New York Mets in 2000. The league went back in 2004 (New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays), 2008 (Boston Red Sox vs. Oakland A's), 2012 (Seattle Mariners vs. A's) and 2019 for a Mariners-A's rematch that featured the final two games of Ichiro Suzuki's MLB career.

This will be the Cubs' third time playing overseas, following the 2000 Tokyo series and their 2023 trip to London, England. The Dodgers will travel to Japan for the first time, but it will be their fourth time being featured internationally after they went to Sydney, Australia, in 2014, Monterrey, Mexico, in 2018, and Seoul, South Korea, to begin the 2024 MLB season.

Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shōta Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki will be in the spotlight when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs play at the Tokyo Dome to kick off the 2025 MLB season. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shōta Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki will be in the spotlight when the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs play at the Tokyo Dome to kick off the 2025 MLB season. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) (Michael Reaves via Getty Images)

  • March 27: The 2025 season will see the earliest traditional Opening Day in history with 15 games in action. Some of the matchups that day will include the Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Miami Marlins, New York Mets vs. Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles vs. Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Guardians vs. Kansas City Royals.

  • March 31:A's home opener against the Cubs at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, after the A's begin the season with four games on the road in Seattle.

  • May 16-18: Main interleague rivals will play each other six times in 2025, with one of their two series falling on "Rivalry Weekend" in mid-May.

  • July 15: 95th MLB All-Star Game at Truist Park in Atlanta

  • Sept. 28: Final day of the 2025 regular season. Many of the matchups that day will feature divisional foes, including Orioles vs. Yankees and Cardinals vs. Cubs.

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