The Mariners will open the 2019 season on the road … in another country.
After reports of it leaked during spring training, Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association announced that season’s first games will be played in Japan.
The two-game series will be considered home games for Oakland.
It’s the fifth time that MLB will open it’s season in Tokyo. The last time came in 2012 when both the Mariners and A’s played two games, each winning one.
“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,” said Mariners Chairman and Managing Partner John Stanton in a statement.