The 2025 MLB Tokyo Series: Everything You Need To Know

Major League Baseball is returning to Tokyo Dome.

Twenty-five years ago, Japan’s capital city hosted the first-ever regular season MLB game outside of North America.

In the quarter century since, MLB has returned to kick off the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2019 seasons in Tokyo. The 2025 MLB World Tour: Tokyo Series will continue that legacy.

The Chicago Cubs, who played in the inaugural Tokyo series in 2000, will face the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers have played regular season games in Australia, Mexico, and South Korea, but never Japan.

Here is a rundown of every key detail you’ll want to know about the upcoming MLB Tokyo Series 2025.

Who Is Playing in the MLB Tokyo Series?

The Cubs and Dodgers will open the MLB regular season with a two-game set at the Tokyo Dome. Before that, however, they will each play two exhibition games against a pair of teams from Nippon Professional Baseball: the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers.

The Giants play in the Bunkyō ward of Tokyo; the Tokyo Dome is their home stadium. They are the oldest team in NPB, with a record 22 Japan Series titles.

The Tigers have played their home games at Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya since their inception in 1936. They have a long-held rivalry with the Giants, although the Tigers have not had nearly as much historical success. They have only won the Japan Series twice.

In 2023, the Tigers won the Japan Series for the second time in franchise history, while the Giants failed to make the Climax Series entirely.

This past year, however, the Giants finished ahead of the Tigers in the regular season by 3.5 games, claiming their 39th Central League pennant. Yet, both teams were upset in the Climax Series by the third-place Yokohama DeNA BayStars, who went on to win the 2024 Japan Series.

When Does the Tokyo Series Begin?

The exhibition matches will take place on March 15 and 16, while the regular season games between the Dodgers and Cubs will be held on March 18 and 19. Here is the complete schedule for all six games in Tokyo:

Don’t forget: Japan is currently 14 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time and 17 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.

However, there is no daylight savings in Japan. Once daylight savings time kicks in on Mar. 9, Japan will only be 13 hours ahead of Eastern Daylight Time and 16 hours ahead of Pacific Daylight Time.

So, here’s what the schedule will look like for US viewers:

Players To Keep an Eye On

MLB Players

Shohei Ohtani (Dodgers)

Shohei Ohtani is already the main attraction of just about every game he plays, but this will be something else entirely. It will be his first time playing a professional game in Japan since he left the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2017.

It will also be Ohtani’s first time playing in his native country in any capacity since he led Samurai Japan to victory in the 2023 WBC and the Dodgers to victory in the 2024 World Series. Even though he won’t be able to pitch in the series, all eyes will be on the three-time MVP.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto (Dodgers)

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has already (essentially) promised that Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start game one in Tokyo. “I think it’s fair to say that Yamamoto’s gonna pitch that first one,” the skipper told Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

After a promising (but injury-shortened) rookie season in MLB, Yamamoto will be looking to show Dodgers fans why the team signed him to a record-shattering $325 million contract. Perhaps returning to pitch in his home country will help him start off on the right foot.

Roki Sasaki (Dodgers)

It hasn’t been very long since Roki Sasaki last pitched in NPB. Still, it is fun that he could make his first MLB appearance on Japanese soil.

While Sasaki is likely to pitch in the Tokyo Series, Roberts stopped short of confirming that the youngster would start game two.

“With Roki … the plan is for him to pitch there,” Roberts explained (per Chen). “We’ll figure out when. A lot of it is more contingent on the unknown of how he responds to spring training and his buildup.”

Shota Imanaga (Cubs)

Cubs manager Craig Counsell has confirmed that Shota Imanaga will pitch in the Tokyo Series. Presumably, he’ll start game one against Yamamoto.

“Shota’s going to pitch in Japan,” manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian.

President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer offered a similar assurance. “Provided everything is on schedule, I’m quite sure he’ll be pitching over there. What game? I don’t know. But certainly, I know the fans in Japan will be excited to see him.”

Even if the series weren’t in Imanaga’s native country, there’s a very good chance he would have gotten the nod as Chicago’s Opening Day starter. The southpaw was phenomenal in his rookie season, going 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA and 3.0 fWAR in 29 starts.

Seiya Suzuki (Cubs)

Seiya Suzuki might be one of the more underrated hitters in MLB right now. Over three seasons with the Cubs, he has put up a 129 wRC+. That ranks 10th among NL batters (min. 1500 PA) in that time.

However, Suzuki certainly wasn’t overlooked during his time in Japan, when he was a five-time NPB All-Star, five-time Golden Glove winner, and six-time Best Nine selection.

He sat out the World Baseball Classic in 2023, which makes this the first time he’ll get to play in Japan since he left NPB after the 2021 campaign.

Dave Roberts (Dodgers)

Alright, so Roberts isn’t a player anymore – and he certainly won’t be playing in the Tokyo Series –but he ranks fourth all-time among Japanese-born MLBers in games played. He is also one of just six Japanese-born players to play at least 10 seasons in MLB.

More recently, Roberts became the first (and then second) manager of Japanese descent to win a World Series.

NPB Players

Kazuma Okamoto (Giants)

Six-time NPB All-Star Kazuma Okamoto made a strong impression on fans around the world with his dominant performance in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. He is expected to pursue an MLB career in the near future.

Masahiro Tanaka (Giants)

A two-time MLB All-Star, Tanaka returned to NPB after the 2020 season. He spent the next four years with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, but the veteran righty signed with the Giants this offseason.

Shosei Togo (Giants)

While the Sawamura Award committee chose not to give out the honor in 2024 – committee members decided that no pitcher met the necessary criteria – Shosei Togo was one of two finalists they considered.

The 24-year-old right-hander was an All-Star for the fourth consecutive season last year, pitching to a 1.95 ERA in 26 games while averaging close to seven innings per start. The highlight of his season was a no-hitter against the Hanshin Tigers in May.

Haruto Inoue (Giants)

Southpaw Haruto Inoue, 23, put up a 2.76 ERA in 101 innings for the Giants last year in his first proper season with the NPB club.

Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs included both Togo and Inoue under the “Star Power” category on his list of International Pro Prospects last November, writing, “Inoue and Togo would slot right into the middle of most good rotations.”

Koji Chikamoto (Tigers)

The speedy Koji Chikamoto has led the Central League in stolen bases on three separate occasions. He is also a five-time NPB All-Star selection and the 2023 Japan Series MVP.

Hiroto Saiki (Tigers)

Hiroto Saiki was an NPB All-Star in 2024, and for good reason. His 1.83 ERA was phenomenal, even by NPB’s much different standards; only two Central League pitchers threw so many as 70 IP with a lower ERA. Saiki also ranked third in the Central League with 167.2 IP and 137 strikeouts.

Shoki Murakami (Tigers)

Shoki Murakami was the 2023 Central League Rookie of the Year and the MVP. He’s fresh off another strong year in 2024, in which he pitched to a 2.58 ERA over 25 starts.

How To Watch the MLB Tokyo Series

The MLB Tokyo Series will be nationally televised on FOX (game one) and FS1 (game two). Fans in Chicago will be able to watch both games on Marquee Sports Network.

The exhibition game between the Dodgers and Yomiuri Giants will be broadcast on Spectrum SportsNet LA and MLB Network, while the exhibition game between the Dodgers and Hanshin Tigers will be broadcast on Spectrum SportsNet LA.

The exhibition game between the Cubs and Hanshin Tigers will be broadcast on Marquee Sports Network, while the exhibition game between the Cubs and Yomiuri Giants will be broadcast on both Marquee Sports Network and MLB Network.

In addition, all games will be available on MLB.tv, although typical blackout restrictions will apply.