International Spotlight For MLB World Tour Tokyo Series: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs

The 2025 Major League Baseball regular season will begin at the Tokyo Dome on March 18, when the Chicago Cubs take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at 6 a.m. EDT on FOX. The second game of the MLB World Tour Tokyo Series will follow on March 19 at 6 a.m. EDT on Fox Sports 1.

The Tokyo Series will also be broadcast in Spanish on FOX Deportes for both games. The Cubs will serve as the home team for both matchups.

According to MLB researcher Sarah Langs, Dodgers starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 1 of the 2025 regular season, while the Cubs have named left-hander Shota Imanaga as their starter for the March 18 opener at the Tokyo Dome.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs Shota Imanaga in Game 1 in Japan will be:

– the first matchup of Japanese-born SP in a regular-season MLB game at the Tokyo Dome

-the first matchup between Japanese-born SP in an Opening Day game https://t.co/PKLtLG2Eu2

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) February 18, 2025

The Dodgers and Cubs will play the first game of spring training for the 2025 Cactus League season on Thursday, February 20, at 3:05 p.m. EST at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. This will be the only game played that day, as the remaining 28 teams will begin their exhibition schedules between February 21 and March 25.

As part of their MLB World Tour Tokyo Series preparations, the Dodgers will face two Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) franchises at the Tokyo Dome. They will play the Yomiuri Giants on March 15 at 6 a.m. EDT and the Hanshin Tigers later that day at 11 p.m. EDT.

The Cubs will also participate in NPB exhibition games, taking on the Hanshin Tigers on March 14 at 11 p.m. EDT and the Yomiuri Giants on March 16 at 6 a.m. EDT, both at the Tokyo Dome.

Major League Baseball has hosted regular-season games at the Tokyo Dome six times in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019, prior to the 2025 season.

The Cubs were the first MLB team to play in Japan, facing the New York Mets at the Tokyo Dome on March 29-30, 2000. The New York Yankees followed in 2004, taking on the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on March 30-31. The Boston Red Sox played the Oakland Athletics in 2008 on March 25-26. The Athletics faced the Seattle Mariners on March 28-29, 2012, and again in 2019, when they played the Mariners on March 20-21.

The MLB Japan All-Star Series took place after every season from 1986 to 2006, with games played across several Japanese stadiums. The series was held at Korakuen Stadium, Osaka Stadium, Lions Stadium, and Heiwadai Stadium in 1986. It moved to the Tokyo Dome, Koshien Stadium, Seibu Lions Stadium, and Heiwadai Stadium in 1988. In 1990, the games were held at Chiba Marine Stadium, Seibu Lions Stadium, Heiwadai Stadium, and the Tokyo Dome. The 1992 series featured matchups at Koshien Stadium, Chiba Marine Stadium, and the Tokyo Dome. In 1996, games were played at Yokohama Stadium, Seibu Lions Stadium, Koshien Stadium, and the Tokyo Dome. The 1998 series was held entirely at the Tokyo Dome. In 2000, the games were split between the Tokyo Dome and Nagoya Dome. The 2002 series was hosted at the Osaka Dome, the Sapporo Dome, the Fukuoka Dome, and the Tokyo Dome. In 2004, the locations were the Osaka Dome, the Fukuoka Dome, the Nagoya Dome, and the Tokyo Dome. The 2006 series was played at the Tokyo Dome, Osaka Dome, and Fukuoka Dome.

The 1994 MLB Japan All-Star Series was canceled due to the MLB Players’ Strike, which ended the regular season on August 11, 1994. The dispute arose from collective bargaining issues between the MLB Players Association and MLB franchise owners over pro-rated salary pay and other financial terms.

From 1986 to 2006, the MLB All-Stars held a dominant record of 48 wins, 20 losses, and 7 ties against the NPB All-Stars. The MLB All-Stars had ten MVP Award winners over the NPB All-Stars. Tony Pena won in 1986, Barry Larkin in 1988, Ken Griffey Jr. in 1990, Mark Grace in 1992, Steve Finley in 1996, Sammy Sosa in 1998, Barry Bonds in 2000, Torii Hunter in 2002, Vernon Wells in 2004, and Ryan Howard in 2006. The NPB All-Stars never had an MVP winner in any of the matchups against the MLB All-Stars.

The MLB Japan All-Star Series returned after the 2014 season with a new format. It featured the Japan national team and combined teams from NPB franchises. The Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants formed one union squad, while the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks formed another. Games were played at Okinawa Cellular Stadium, the Sapporo Dome, Koshien Stadium, the Fukuoka Dome, the Osaka Dome, and the Tokyo Dome.

At the 2018 MLB Japan All-Star Series, the Chinese Taipei national team, the Yomiuri Giants, and the Samurai Japan national team participated in the event. Games were held at the Fukuoka Dome, Nagoya Dome, Mazda Stadium, and Tokyo Dome.

Yuki Yanagita was named the MVP of the 2014 Samurai Japan team, but no MVP was selected in 2018.

The MLB All-Stars finished with a 3-8 record against the Japan national team across the 2014 and 2018 series.

Ichiro Susuki’s Career and Legacy

Soon-to-be-inducted National Baseball Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki played his final Major League Baseball game at the Tokyo Dome with the Seattle Mariners on March 21, 2019, in front of 46,451 fans.

#ThanksIchiro

???? https://t.co/ErJhRLRRMP pic.twitter.com/svVGQsQsTp

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) March 21, 2019

Ichiro Suzuki, 51, was born in Nishikasugai-gun, Aichi, Japan, and holds the record for the most hits across two professional leagues, combining 4,367 hits in Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball. He is followed by Pete Rose, who played exclusively in the United States, with 4,256 hits.

Ichiro played nine seasons with the Orix BlueWave in NPB, where he was a seven-time All-Star from 1994-2000, won a Japan Series title in 1996, and was a three-time Pacific League MVP from 1994-96. He also earned seven Golden Glove Awards from 1994-2000, seven Best Nine Awards from 1994-2000, and won the Matsutaro Shoriki Award twice in 1994 and 1995. Ichiro dominated offensively, winning seven Pacific League batting titles from 1994-2000 and leading the league in RBIs and stolen bases in 1995, before making his MLB debut with Seattle in 2001.

In 2004, Ichiro set the MLB single-season hits record with 262 hits, surpassing George Sisler’s 84-year-old record of 257 hits. He collected 251 hits through 154 games before ultimately breaking Sisler’s record.

On January 16, 2025, Ichiro was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, appearing on 323 of 349 valid ballots and receiving 92.6% of the vote, the sixth-highest percentage in the Hall’s history. He was inducted alongside former Chunichi Dragons closer Hitoki Iwase, 50, former Hanshin Tigers third baseman Masayuki Kakefu, 69, and former umpire Hiroya Tomizawa, 93, as part of the Japanese Hall of Fame.

Ichiro Suzuki was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on January 21, 2025, receiving 99.7% of the vote from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA). He was named on 393 of 394 ballots.

Ichiro will be inducted alongside C.C. Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dave Parker, and Dick Allen as part of the Hall of Fame Class of 2025 during the induction ceremony on July 27, 2025, at the Clark Sports Center in Cooperstown.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at 1:30 p.m. EDT on July 27, 2025, on the Clark Sports Center grounds, and will be televised live on MLB Network.

MLB Network’s coverage of the Hall of Fame induction will begin at 11 a.m. EDT on July 27.

Ichiro will become the first Asian-born player inducted into Cooperstown and the first Hall of Famer to have won a World Baseball Classic, having helped Japan capture titles in the 2006 and 2009 tournaments.

World Baseball Network’s Tokyo Series Coverage

World Baseball Network will publish a second part of its MLB World Tour Tokyo Series coverage, focusing on the six Asian-born players on the active rosters for the Dodgers and Cubs. These players include Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga from Japan, and Dodgers two-way Japanese super star Shohei Ohtani, right-hander Yoshinobou Yamamoto, rookie Roki Sasaki, and South Korean rookie middle infielder Hyeseong Kim.