The 2019 MLB season will get underway in Japan.
MLB announced on Tuesday that the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics will open the 2019 season at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
The @Athletics and @Mariners will open the 2019 @MLB season with a two-game set on 3/20-21 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. MLB will also renew its All-Star Tour with Nippon Professional Baseball with six games across Japan from November 8th-15th. pic.twitter.com/X1R2RTIJss
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) May 1, 2018
These will be MLB’s first games outside of the United States, Canada, Mexico, or Puerto Rico since the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks kicked off the 2014 season in Australia.
This is also not uncommon ground for either organization. Oakland kicked off the 2008 season by splitting a two-game series against the Boston Red Sox at the Tokyo Dome. Four years later, the Athletics and Mariners started the 2012 season with a two-game series in Tokyo, with the two teams each winning one game.