Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman (5) celebrates after his two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a spring training baseball game Thursday, March 2, 2023, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani will open the 2025 season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs on March 18, and the Athletics will start the home portion of their first season in Sacramento against the Cubs on March 31.
All 30 teams are scheduled to play March 27, marking the earliest Opening Day other than international games, Major League Baseball announced Thursday. There were games on March 28 in 2019 and this season.
Each team will play six games against its prime interleague rival instead of four, increasing matchups between the New York Yankees and Mets, Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels, Cubs and Chicago White Sox, and Athletics and San Francisco Giants. What is being called a Rivalry Weekend is scheduled for May 16-18 and includes the prime interleague rivalries along with Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Colorado vs. Arizona, Detroit vs. Toronto and Houston vs. Texas.
In the third straight season of a return to a balanced schedule, a team will play 13 games against each division rival (52 games) and six or seven against each other club in its league for a total of 62. The remaining 48 games are against interleague opponents, with a single three-game series against each of the 14 other clubs in the opposite league.
The American League used a balanced schedule from 1977 to 2000 and the National League from 1993 to 2000.
The Dodgers and Cubs will play at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19, marking the 25th anniversary of the Mets and Cubs playing MLB’s first regular-season games in Japan. Other Tokyo openers were the Yankees and Rays (2004), Red Sox and Athletics (2008) and Mariners and Athletics (2012, ’19). The Dodgers and San Diego Padres started the 2024 season in Seoul, South Korea.
MLB and the players’ association intended to play regular-season games in Paris next June but abandoned the plan because they couldn’t find a sponsor. The collective bargaining agreement also called for September 2025 games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but none were included.
