2025 Chicago Cubs Schedule: Japan series with Los Angeles Dodgers announced

The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles will officially open the 2025 season in Tokyo, Japan, when they play the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 18-19 next season.

Cubs, Dodgers to open the 2025 MLB season in Japan.

For Major League Baseball, the 2025 season will mark the second consecutive season that an international series will serve as the lid lifter for the regular season. The Dodgers and San Diego Padres opened the 2024 season with a two-game series in South Korea.

The series between the Cubs and Dodgers will presumably feature some of MLB's most prominent Japanese players. Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto were the Dodgers' free-agent prizes this past winter while the Cubs' core includes outfielder Seiya Suzuki and starting pitcher Shota Imanaga.

What will be interesting to see is that one of those games between the Cubs and Dodgers could feature Ohtani's return to the pitching mound. Ohtani is exclusively serving as the Dodgers' designated hitter this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery this past winter. When Ohtani signed with the Dodgers, the expectation was that he would return to the pitching mound in 2025.

After their series against the Dodgers in Japan, the Cubs will resume their regular season schedule on March 27 with a series on the road against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cubs will continue their West Coast trip against the Athletics before having their home opener against the San Diego Padres on April 4.

It isn't ideal for the Cubs to be opening the 2025 season with three of their first four series against the National League West. The Dodgers and Padres continue to push their chips toward the middle of the table in terms of contending each season while the Diamondbacks have a young nucleus of players that continue to make the Cubs' front office jealous.

Additionally, the Cubs' full 2025 schedule has been released.