The Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani will kick off the 2025 season in Tokyo against the Chicago Cubs on March 18, while the Athletics will begin their first season in Sacramento at home against the Cubs on March 31.
All 30 teams will start their regular season on March 27, which is the earliest opening day besides international games, according to Major League Baseball’s announcement on Thursday. In previous years, there were games on March 28 in 2019 and this season.
Each team will play six games against their main interleague rival instead of four. This means more matchups between teams like the New York Yankees and Mets, Dodgers and Los Angeles Angels, Cubs and Chicago White Sox, and Athletics and San Francisco Giants.
A “Rivalry Weekend” is scheduled for May 16-18, highlighting these key interleague rivalries along with matchups like Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia, Colorado vs. Arizona, Detroit vs. Toronto, and Houston vs. Texas.
For the third consecutive season with a balanced schedule, each team will play 13 games against their division rivals and six or seven against every other team in their league, totaling 62 games.
The remaining 48 games will be against teams from the opposite league, featuring a three-game series against each of the other 14 clubs. Teams will host the same interleague opponents they did in 2023.
From 1977 to 2000, the American League used a balanced schedule, while the National League did the same from 1993 to 2000.
The Dodgers and Cubs will play at the Tokyo Dome on March 18-19, marking the 25th anniversary of MLB’s first regular-season games in Japan, which featured the Mets and Cubs.
Previous Tokyo openers included the Yankees and Tampa Bay (2004), Boston and Oakland (2008), Seattle and Oakland (2012), and Seattle and Oakland (2019). The 2024 season began with the Dodgers and San Diego in Seoul, South Korea.
MLB and the players’ association planned to hold regular-season games in Paris next June but scrapped the idea due to a lack of sponsorship. The collective bargaining agreement also outlined games in San Juan, Puerto Rico for September 2025, but they were not scheduled.
After calling Oakland’s Coliseum home since 1968, the Athletics will play at Sutter Health Park for the 2025-27 seasons. This stadium, home to the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A River Cats, has around 10,500 fixed seats.
The A’s will start their season with a four-game series in Seattle before hosting the Cubs. They will face the Giants at San Francisco’s Oracle Park from May 16-18 and host them again from July 4-6.
The Athletics originally began in Philadelphia from 1901-54, then moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons. They have announced plans to relocate to a new ballpark in Las Vegas starting in 2028.
Sacramento experiences daytime temperatures exceeding 100 degrees in summer, so artificial turf is being installed to accommodate both the A’s and the River Cats.
On March 27, other games include the Cubs at Arizona, the Angels at the White Sox, the Giants at Cincinnati, the Mets at Houston, Cleveland at Kansas City, Detroit at the Dodgers, Pittsburgh at Miami, Milwaukee at the Yankees, Minnesota at St. Louis, Atlanta at San Diego, Colorado at Tampa Bay, Boston at Texas, Baltimore at Toronto, and Philadelphia at Washington.
Game times have not been announced.
The All-Star Game will take place at Atlanta’s Truist Park on July 15, and the regular season will conclude on September 28.
