MLB announced its 2025 regular-season schedule and for the sixth time the season will begin in Japan followed by having all 30 teams slated to play on Thursday, March 27, for the traditional Opening Day -- marking the earliest Opening Day in history (the season began on March 28 in 2019 and 2024).
The season will also feature "rivalry weekend" from May 16-18. Along those same lines, "prime" interleague rivals will increase their number of games from four to six, playing a pair of three-game series rather than two two-game series.
Let's look at some of the key highlights and big series we're already looking forward to for next year:
March 18-19: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Chicago Cubs in Tokyo
This will mark the 25th anniversary of the first season-opening series in Japan, when the Cubs played the Mets. The last time the season opened in Japan was 2019, when the Mariners played the A's, in what was a send-off for Ichiro Suzuki, as he played the final two games of his career.
This will mark Shohei Ohtani's return to Japan (other than early-round games in the World Baseball Classic) since he signed with the Angels in 2018. Good luck getting a ticket to this one. Of course, the big question heading into that series will be whether he'll be ready to pitch -- and whether we'll get a matchup between Ohtani and Cubs starter Shota Imanaga, who also will be playing in Japan for the first time since coming to MLB.
The Dodgers will undoubtedly be careful in bringing Ohtani back from his second elbow surgery and the game will take place mid-to-late spring training, so even if he does pitch, it would likely be a short outing. At the minimum, we'll likely at least see Imanaga pitching to Ohtani. Imanaga has faced the Dodgers once this season, back in April, and Ohtani went 0-for-2 with a strikeout against him. The series will also be a homecoming for Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki.
March 27: Opening Day
Baseball's traditional Opening Day will feature five interleague series and four division series. The best bet for a World Series rematch would probably be the Brewers at the Yankees (the other interleague series are Rockies at Rays, Mets at Astros, Twins at Cardinals and Tigers at Dodgers). Paul Skenes is likely to make his first career Opening Day start, although it will be on the road since the Pirates will open in Miami. The A's will begin their Sacramento journey on the road in Seattle, playing their first home game on March 31 against the Cubs.
May 16-18: Rivalry weekend
This is kind of a fun idea to line up all these series at the same time -- even if a couple of the rivalries are a little bit of a stretch. The matchups: Guardians at Reds, Nationals at Orioles, Tigers at Blue Jays, Pirates at Phillies, Braves at Red Sox, Rays at Marlins, Mets at Yankees, Cardinals at Royals, Astros at Rangers, White Sox at Cubs, Twins at Brewers, Rockies at Diamondbacks, Angels at Dodgers, Mariners at Padres, A's at Giants.
You'll note that not all the series are interleague games with some region-based matchups included. It makes you wonder, however, since MLB is acknowledging that it's better to have, say, the Yankees and Mets or Cubs and White Sox play each other six times rather than four, if we're eventually looking at realignment and retinkering of the divisions altogether. Is it better to keep the Yankees and Mets in their traditional leagues or having them as division rivals and playing 13 times a season? (Then again, I can't see the Yankees moving to the National League or the Mets moving to the American League, even if more games against each other would be more exciting for the baseball fans of New York.)
July 31: Trade deadline day
The trade deadline falls on a Thursday with only two games scheduled that day: Rays at Yankees and Rangers at Mariners. Which teams will be looking to make big additions? Which teams will be out of it? I'm sure that my fellow Mariners fans will still be celebrating that Seattle has ended its World Series drought by then thanks to a dramatic seven-game win over the Phillies in the 2024 World Series and the M's will be looking to add more firepower to an offense that includes offseason free agents Pete Alonso, Alex Bregman and Tyler O'Neill.
Sept. 26-28: Final weekend
It's always fun to check who is playing the final weekend to see the most interesting series that are likely to have playoff implications. Leading the way would be the Orioles at the Yankees. Will Juan Soto be in pinstripes next year or will he have signed with ... umm, let's throw out the Dodgers and Mets as possibilities. Cardinals at Cubs is a great old-school rivalry (how can they not be playing on rivalry weekend?). Rays at Blue Jays could be interesting: Will those be the final games for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in Toronto uniforms ... or will those two be long gone (say sometime soon)?