MLB Sets Roster To Be Big In Japan With All-Star Tour, 2019 Season Opener
NYSJ Sports-Entertainment Business News Service
September 11, 2018: MLB and the MLB Players' Assn. have named the first group of players who will represent MLB in the 2018 All-Star Tour with Nippon Professional Baseball in November.
The seven-game tour is scheduled to open Nov. 8 with an exhibition against the Yomiuri Giants at the Toyko Dome, followed by three more games in Tokyo (Nov. 9-11), one game in the Mazda Zoom Zoom Stadium in Hiroshima (Nov. 13) and two games in the Nagoya Dome in Nagoyoa (Nov. 14-15).
MLB will also return to Japan next spring with a two-game 2019 Opening Series between the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners in the Tokyo Dome.
"Major League Baseball is thrilled to return to Japan for the 2018 All-Star Tour this fall and for the 2019 Japan Opening Series next March," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.
”The renewal of the All-Star Tour gives MLB and Nippon Professional Baseball an outstanding opportunity to continue a longstanding tradition that showcases the best of our game for our many fans across Japan, as well as build up excitement for the 2019 Opening Series between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics.
This year's All-Star Tour will mark the 37th time Major Leaguers have toured Japan for exhibition games, a tradition that dates back to 1908.
The MLB team will be managed by Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly,
Players named to the roster include Yadier Molina (St. Louis Cardinals catcher), Eugenio Suarez (Cincinnati Reds third base), Christian Yelich (Milwaukee Brewers outfielder), Ronald Acuna Jr. (Atlanta Braves, outfielder), Rhys Hoskins and Carlos Santana (Philadelphia Phillies first base, infielder), Whit Merrifield (Kansas City Royals second baseman) and Chris Taylor ( Los Dodgers infielder/outfielder).
The remainder of the roster will be released in the coming weeks.
The 2019 Japan Opening Series, which will serve as A's home games, will represent the fifth time that MLB has opened its season in Tokyo. The last Opening Series in Tokyo was in 2012, when the A's and Mariners split two games.
"The Mariners have been closely tied to Japan since Nintendo purchased a majority of the team in 1992 and have had Japanese players on our roster every season since 1996," John Stanton, Mariners chairman and managing partner, said in a statement.
"It is an honor for our team to return for the Opening Series in 2019, and we look forward to this opportunity."
This will mark the eighth season-opener to be played internationally.
MLB has previously opened seasons in Monterrey, Mexico (1999); Tokyo (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012); San Juan, Puerto Rico (2001); and Sydney, Australia (2014). Overall, MLB said that more than one million fans have attended 19 MLB Opening Series games.
In the U.S, the 2019 season is scheduled to begin on March 28.
"The city of Tokyo offers a terrific backdrop for the Opening Series, and we look forward to once again bringing Major League games to the Japanese fans as we celebrate our shared love of baseball," said Manfred.
Beginning on Nov. 9, the games will be broadcast live on MLB Network.