The 2024 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season will open in Seoul, Korea, with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres on 20 and 21 March.
The other 28 teams will play their opening game on 28 March.
It will mark the ninth time MLB opens its regular season outside the continental United States and Canada, and the first since the A's and the Mariners started the 2019 season in Tokyo, Japan.
MLB has opened the regular season five times in Tokyo in total (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2019) and one time in Mexico (Monterrey, 1999), Puerto Rico (San Juan, 2001) and Australia (Sydney, 2014).
The Dodgers and Padres will play exhibition games against Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) teams and the Korean National Team ahead of the Major League Baseball (MLB) Seoul Series in Korea.
The Dodgers will take on the Kiwoom Heroes on 17 March and face Korea the following day.
The Padres will face world No. 4 Korea on 17 March and the LF Twins on 18 March.
The teams announced their starting pitchers for the two games.
The Dodgers will hand the ball to right-hander Tyler Glasnow on 20 March and right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto on 21 March.
The Padres also picked two right-handers, 37-year-old veteran Yu Darvish on 20 March and Joe Musgrove on 21 March.
Darvish, who competed in the Beijing 2008 Olympics and helped Japan win the 2009 World Baseball Classic final, and Yamamoto, Tokyo 2020 gold medallist and WBSC Premier12 2019 winner, are not the only international stars who will take the field at Gocheok SkyDome in Seoul.
The Dodgers' two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani is the player Korean fans anticipate watching the most.
The Padres will count on WBSC Premier12 2019 star shortstop Ha-Seong Kim, who in 2023 became the first Korean player awarded an MLB gold glove. San Diego added closer Woo-suk Go, a 25-year-old right-hander who represented Korea at the Tokyo 2020 Games and was also on their 2019 Premier12 roster.
Left-hander Yuki Matsui is another first-year Padre. A five-time NPB All-Star, Matsui joined the Padres after becoming the NPB saves leader for the third time in his last season with the Rakuten Golden Eagles. He represented Japan at the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2013 and the inaugural Premier12 in 2015.
Superstar shortstop Xander Bogaerts was the Netherlands' backup shortstop during the 2011 Baseball World Cup. As a 19-year-old, he contributed to the historic World Title by appearing in three games.
The 2024 Seoul Series is part of the MLB World Tour, featuring planned regular-season and exhibition games in Asia, Europe, Mexico and Latin America through the 2026 season.
In 2024, the Tour includes a two-game series between the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies in Mexico City in April and the London Series between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies in June.
