The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers will kick off the 2025 MLB regular reason with a two game series in Toyko on March 18 and 19. On Opening Day, the starting pitchers for each team, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga, will make history in two ways.
History will be made in two ways during game one of the Cubs-Dodgers series in Toyko
According to Sarah Langs, game one in Japan will feature Yamamoto on the mound for the Dodgers and Imanaga for the Cubs. This is not only each of these players first career Opening Day starts, but it will mark the first match up of Japanese-born starting pitchers in a regular-season MLB game at the Toyko Dome. Additionally, this will be the first match up between Japanese born starting pitchers in an Opening Day game.
History of MLB games at the Toyko Dome
MLB games have been played abroad since 1996, that includes five previously series played in Japan at the Toyko Dome. In 2000, the Cubs and Mets played the first MLB game overseas at the Toyko Dome. Four years later the Mets and Devil Rays played in Japan, in 2008 the Red Sox and Athletics played a regular season series there, and in both 2012 and 2019 the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics squared off. 2019 was a special year as Ichiro Suzuki played his last career game at the Toyko Dome.
History of Japanese born starting pitchers to start on Opening Day
March 18 will mark the first match up of two Japanese born starting pitchers squaring off against one another on Opening Day, but throughout history there have been some notable Japanese born players to start on Opening Day. A few of those players include Masahiro Tanaka, Hideo Nomo, Yu Darvish, Kenta Maeda, and Shohei Ohtani.
Opening Day in Toyko will be a unique and very cool moment to witness in which the history behind Yamamoto and Imanaga facing off against one another gives it a little extra meaning.
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