Dodgers, Cubs, To Open 2025 MLB Season in Japan
The Major League Baseball worldwide tour will make its next stop to likely the Tokyo Dome, home of the Nippon Professional Baseball’s most famous baseball team the Yomiuri Giants, in 2025.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs, the teams of some of the NPB’s biggest past stars in Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Seiya Suzuki, and Shota Imanaga, have been “privately informed” that they will start their 2025 regular seasons in Tokyo, Japan.
Baseball is the biggest sports market in Japan, and the NPB and MLB and interconnected quite closely, as players both join the MLB from the NPB and vice versa quite frequently. Some of the NPB’s biggest stars play for MLB teams, creating a clear path to MLB marketability in Japan, and choosing these two teams allows the four I mentioned earlier to go home and play in front of their native crowd, a win-win for all parties.
The Dodgers will likely be a World Series contender in 2025, and with Shohei Ohtani presumably ready to pitch by then, having him pitch and hit in front of his biggest fanbase in the world seems like a great move. Former Orix Buffaloes star Yoshinobu Yamamoto will also have a chance to return to his native country and pitch after Ohtani, and fans will get to see him once again as well.
Former Hiroshima Carp star Seiya Suzuki will finally have a chance to play in front of the Japanese fans once again, after missing the World Baseball Classic with an injury. Former DeNa Baystars Ace Shota Imanaga will have a chance to return home shortly after his departure, and fans of the Yokohama team will get a chance to see their beloved ace once more.
Japanese baseball fans are already familiar with United States Baseball and their Japanese stars, as they competed against each other in both the 2023 World Baseball Classic and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where Japan won both the World Baseball Classic Title and a Gold Medal.
The fans were lively, loud, and passionate in both of those meetings. It will be no different in 2025 most likely, where they get to see two great teams compete against each other, with some of Japan’s greatest superstars leading their respective teams. This will be an exciting series to watch with an incredible atmosphere.
