Very soon, the Dodgers and the Padres will play the first game of the 2024 season. Lots of fans have paid huge attention to the opening series in Korea for several reasons. Firstly, it’s the first time that the MLB opens a season in Korea. Additionally, the Padres and the Dodgers each have a rich history of recruiting players from Asia. Thirdly, looking at each team's 40-man roster, in total, there are 6 Asian players.
Previously, the MLB used to open the season in Japan 5 times. During these 5 series, there were several Asian players who played in the games. And I was wondering if Asian players did play well when they came back to Asia. To understand a little bit more, I decided to check on the great baseball reference website.
The Mets and the Cubs opened the season in Tokyo in 2000. However, in 2020, no Asian players played in the opening series in Tokyo.
In 2004, the Devil Rays and the Yankees took a trip to Tokyo to open the season. A key thing about this series is that Hideki Matsui was back to Tokyo Dome, which is the home of the Yomiuri Giants. Before joining the Yankees, Matsui played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1993 to 2002. In the 2004 opening series in Tokyo, Matsui had 9 plate appearances, collecting 3 hits and 3 RBI. In particular, he crushed a home run in the second game of the series.
In 2008, the Red Sox and the Athletics were playing in Tokyo to open the season. Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound for the Red Sox in the first game of the season. He tossed 5 innings and allowed 2 runs. Matsuzaka used 95 pitches in the game. He punched out 6 batters, but he gave up 5 walks. In the same game, Hideki Okajima took the mound for the Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th inning. Okajima faced 4 batters and didn’t allow a run.
In addition, in 2012, the Oakland Athletics were back to Tokyo again. The A’s and the Mariners opened the season at Tokyo Dome. They split a 2-game series. In the first game, Ichiro Suzuki batted 3rd and went 4-for-5 with 1 RBI. The next day, Ichiro was batting 3rd as well, however, he went hitless in 4 plate appearances.
5 years ago, the Mariners and the A’s opened the 2019 season in Tokyo again. Yusei Kikuchi started the game 2 of the series for the Mariners, giving up 2 runs (1 earned) over 4.2 innings. The spotlights were on Ichiro Suzuki during the series. He went hitless in 2 games. But he retired after the series. It was a pity that Ichiro didn’t collect a hit in the last 2 games of his career. However, there’s no doubt that he will be a Hall of Famer. Ichiro had 3089 hits in his career in the majors.
Hideki Matsui used to smash a home run in the opening series in Tokyo. Okajima earned a win in the 2008 opening series. Ichiro collected 4 hits in game one of the 2012 opening series. In the 2024 opening series in Korea, Shohei Ohtani will make his debut in the Dodgers uniform and Ha-Seong Kim will be the shortstop for the Padres. At the same time, in the Padres, Yu Darvish will start game 1. Woo-Suk Go was just optioned to Triple A but Yuki Matsui could be on the mound for the Padres. Furthermore, the Dodgers add Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the rotation and he will start game 2 in the Seoul Series. Those players will surely draw a lot of attention on the field. It will be very interesting to watch this series. Which players from Asia will play impressively to open the season?
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