The Dodgers will open next season in Tokyo, but here’s a look at other notes and quirks from the rest of the 2025 schedule after they get home from Japan.
Major League Baseball unveiled the 2025 regular season schedule on Thursday, and the headliner was the Dodgers opening up overseas for a second straight season. The Dodgers will play the Cubs on March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
Unlike this year when the Dodgers and Padres each got one “home game” in Seoul, South Korea, the two games in Tokyo next season will both be considered home games for the Cubs. That means the Dodgers will get 81 regular season games at Dodger Stadium in 2025.
Once the Dodgers are back stateside, they will open domestically at home, with a three-game series against the Tigers in Los Angeles beginning Thursday, March 27. It’s the first time the Dodgers’ home opener is an interleague game.
Another quirk of that first series at Dodger Stadium is that it starts on Thursday and ends on Saturday, giving the Dodgers a scheduled Sunday off for a fourth year in a row. The Dodgers conclude their opening homestand with three games against the Braves from March 31-April 2.
Interleague play shifts next year from 46 games to 48 games, with 16 series of three games each. The difference is that each team will play its “natural” interleague rival (every team has one, by definition) in two series of three games each instead of a pair of two-game sets.
The Dodgers play the Cubs a total of seven times next season, all within the season’s first 25 games. After the two games in Tokyo, the Dodgers welcome the Cubs to Los Angeles for three games from April 11-13, followed by two games at Wrigley Field on April 22-23.
Notes
- The Dodgers are home on Jackie Robinson Day, per usual, hosting the Rockies on April 15 at Dodger Stadium.
- Longest road trip of the season is 10 games from May 2-11, with three-game series in Atlanta and Miami before four games in Phoenix against the D-backs.
- The longest homestand is 10 games from June 13-22, hosting the Giants, Padres (four games), and Nationals.
- The A’s are expected to play in Sacramento next season, but the Dodgers will not play there. Their series against the A’s from May 12-14 is in Los Angeles.
- After the Dodgers and Giants this season conclude their season series next week in the 104th game of the season, the two longtime rivals won’t play their first game against each other in 2025 until June 13 at Dodger Stadium, the 70th game of next year.
- The busiest interleague play month is July, with 12 games against AL teams, including three games at Fenway Park from July 25-27. There are also 11 interleague games in May.
- MLB has clustered 11 interleague series for what it’s calling “rivalry weekend” from May 16-18. The Dodgers host the Angels that weekend.
- The Dodgers conclude their season with a six-game road trip against the D-backs in Arizona from September 23-25, then the Mariners in Seattle from September 26-28.