Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that the Seattle Mariners are scheduled to open the 2019 season in Tokyo, Japan, March 20-21 against the Oakland Athletics.
The two-game 2019 Japan Opening Series at the Tokyo Dome will be “road” games for the Mariners. The Mariners 81-game home schedule is not affected by the games in Japan.
“The Mariners have been closely tied to Japan since Nintendo saved baseball in the Northwest by purchasing a majority of the team in 1992 and we have had Japanese players on our roster every year since 1996,” added Mariners Chairman & Managing Partner John Stanton. “It is an honor for our team to return for the Opening Series in 2019, and we look forward to this opportunity.”
Milestones for Japanese-born Mariners players include: Ichiro Suzuki was an AL MVP (2001), Rookie of the Year (2001), 10-time All-Star, 10-time Rawlings Gold Glove Award Winner, 3-time Silver Slugger Award Winner. He collected 262 hits in 2004, breaking George Sisler’s 84-year-old record for most Major League hits in a season. Hisashi Iwakuma threw the fifth no-hitter in Mariners history on Aug. 12, 2015 vs. Baltimore. Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000) and Ichiro claimed back-to-back Rookie of the Year Awards. Mac Suzuki was the first native-born Japanese player in the American League when he debuted with the Mariners in 1996.
The Mariners will fly from Spring Training in Peoria, Arizona, to Tokyo, Japan. The Japan trip will begin with a pair of exhibition games vs. Nippon Professional Baseball teams on Sunday, March 17 and Monday, March 18. Seattle will begin the 2019 regular season on Wednesday, March 20 and fly back to the U.S. following the game on Thursday, March 21.
The Mariners will play additional exhibition games following their return to the U.S. A full spring schedule will be released at a later date.
