Dodgers-Cubs tickets going for $2,000 on Opening Day in Tokyo: report

When Major League Baseball scheduled the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs to play two games in Tokyo to begin the 2025 regular season, the league assumed a degree of excitement around the two teams' Japanese-born stars: Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers, and Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga for the Cubs. When the Dodgers signed free agent sensation Roki Sasaki in January, it was a nifty bonus for the league.

Even MLB's wildest projections could not have anticipated this: according to Front Office Sports, tickets for the Opening Day game are retailing for about $2,000 on the secondary market, while starting prices for Game 2 are about $1,500.

Eric Fisher also reports that sponsorship of the MLB Tokyo Series is expected to surpass the "Seoul Series" — the Dodgers and Padres begin the 2024 regular series with two head-to-head games in South Korea — by 240 percent.

According to MLB, a total of 22 major global and Japanese domestic brands are partnering with the league. The sponsors range from commercial airlines, convenience stores and technology providers to payment processors and resorts.

Monday, MLB announced a slate of "fan events, Japanese brand collabs, retail takeovers, and new sponsors" associated with the Tokyo Series. The Dodgers and Cubs will play each other on March 18 and 19 in a pair of games that count toward the regular season standings, then return home to play more exhibition games.

FOX will air the first game of the Tokyo Series and FS1 will carry the second game with FOX Deportes airing both contests. The games will also be available on the clubs’ regional sports networks, SportsNet LA and Marquee.

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