LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers will open the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season in Tokyo with a series against the Chicago Cubs, the MLB said Thursday in releasing next season’s regular-season schedule.

The Dodgers, who inked Japanese superstar Ohtani to a record-setting $700-million contract prior to this season, will face the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome on 18 and 19 March.

The official opening day will be on 27 March, with all 30 teams scheduled to play on what will be the earliest opener — not including international games — ever.

The 2025 Tokyo Series will mark the 25th anniversary of the first regular-season games to be played in Japan, when the Cubs faced the Mets at the Tokyo Dome on 29 to 30 March 2000.

Since then, the site has also played host to openers in 2004, 2008 and 2012.

The Dodgers have played in three international series, in Australia in 2014, in Mexico in 2018 and in Seoul last year, but they have never played a regular-season game in Japan.

They have a long history of Japanese players, starting with pitcher Hideo Nomo’s arrival in 1995.