Dodgers, Padres will open the 2024 season in South Korea
May 14, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Diego Padres right winger Fernando Tatis Jr. (23) stole second against Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Miguel Vargas (17) during the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium. Image: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
A total of six games will be played outside the United States and Canada next season, including the season opener, two games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.
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Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association made a joint announcement Wednesday.
For the ninth time in major league history, the season will begin in a country other than the US or Canada when the Dodgers and Padres clash March 20-21 for South Korea’s first major league game.
The Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies will then meet in two sets in Mexico City on April 27-28 before the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies play a pair in London on June 8-9, the series has already been announced.
Spring training will also feature internationals next season, as the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are scheduled to play in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on March 9 and March 10.
“Major League Baseball is excited for this broad international series of games in 2024,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred Jr. in the release. “Our recent efforts have generated strong enthusiasm around the world and we look forward to building on that foundation by returning to Mexico City and London, as well as opening the season in Korea for the first time.
“We are thrilled that our fans in four different countries outside of the United States and Canada will have the opportunity to see the stars of the game.”
The regular season opener hasn’t happened in a country without a major league team since 2019, when the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners squared off in Tokyo.
Los Angeles has not traveled internationally since 2018, while San Diego went global recently, taking on the San Francisco Giants in Mexico City this past April 29-30.
Of the six teams participating in the MLB World Tour during the 2024 regular season, the Phillies have gone the longest without traveling outside the US and Canada, last doing so in 1977.
–Field Level Media
