The Mariners and A’s will open the ’12 MLB season “at the Tokyo Dome for a two-game series March 28-29,” according to Gerry Spratt of SEATTLEPI.com. The rest of the league “is set to open the season April 6.” It will be the “first opener in Japan since” the Red Sox-A’s in '08. The Mariners “were scheduled to open the season in Tokyo in 2003, but the trip was canceled at the last minute because of the U.S. plans to invade Iraq.” The teams have “two of Japan’s most popular athletes” in Mariners RF Ichiro Suzuki and A’s DH Hideki Matsui, and the '12 series “could be the last chance for Ichiro and Matsui to play in front of their home fans as major league baseball players” (SEATTLEPI.com, 9/28). In Seattle, Larry Stone notes the series “will be regarded as road games for the Mariners and replace previously announced games in Oakland on Sunday, April 8, and Thursday, July 5, which will now be off days.” The Mariners' home schedule “will not be affected by the games in Japan.” Stone notes the series will be “an opportunity for Kyoto-based Hiroshi Yamauchi, founder of Nintendo, to see his team play for the first time since he became majority owner” of the Mariners in ’92 (SEATTLE TIMES, 9/29). In San Jose, Joe Stiglich notes the A’s “will play two exhibitions and the two games against” the Mariners in Japan and then they “will return home to play the Bay Bridge exhibition series against the Giants before resuming the regular season with two games in Oakland against the Mariners beginning April 6” (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/29). MLB.com’s Mark Newman reports the two-game series in Japan “will be dedicated to assisting in the rebuilding efforts across that nation,” as the country “continues a long recovery from the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami last March.” MLB, the MLBPA and Nippon Professional Baseball's Yomiuri Giants “will announce details regarding their support of Japan Relief in the coming weeks” (MLB.com, 9/28).
