March 29, 2000: Major League Baseball In Japan

March 29, 2000, 25 years ago: For the 1st time, a Major League Baseball regular-season game is played outside of North America. The New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs play the 1st of 2 season-opening games at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.

From 1938 to 1987, the Tokyo-based Yomiuri Giants played at the 42,337-seat Korakuen Stadium. In 1988, they moved next-door to the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome, known as "The Big Egg" because of its shape, which included a white fabric roof, similar to the Metrodome in Minneapolis, the Silverdome outside Detroit, the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis, and (formerly) BC Place in Vancouver.

As is the case with most domed stadiums, and most stadiums in Japan regardless of whether there's any kind of roof, the Dome has artificial turf. The field is symmetrical: 329 feet to the poles, 375 to the power alleys, and 400 to center. Like most domes that host baseball, it favors hitters over pitchers.

The Mets and the Cubs were chosen because of the size of their markets and their international appeal -- and also because the most obvious matchup, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, weren't willing to each give up a home game's revenue against their arch-rivals to play on the other side of the world.

Game time, local, was 7:05 PM, making it 6:05 AM in New York, and 5:05 AM in Chicago. Cliché Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Eric Young Sr. led off the game by drawing a walk on Mike Hampton, who was making his Mets debut. He stole 2nd, and was singled home by Damon Buford.

In hindsight, that was a sign that the Mets were going to have a great season anyway: Buford was the son of Don Buford, the Baltimore Orioles left fielder who hit Tom Seaver's 2nd pitch of Game 1 of the 1969 World Series for a home run, and while the Orioles won that game, the Mets took the next 4 for their "Miracle."

The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the 3rd, when a sacrifice fly by Darryl Hamilton tied it. Did I mention that walks could be deadly? In the top of the 5th, Buford led off with a single, and after a lineout by Mark Grace, Hampton walked Sammy Sosa, walked Henry Rodriguez to load the bases, and walked Shane Andrews to force home a run.

Andrews hit a home run off Dennis Cook in the 7th, making him the 1st major leaguer to homer outside North America. Grace became the 2nd, taking Rich Rodriguez deep in the 8th. The Mets tried their own spin on the walks cliché: Edgardo Alfonzo led off the bottom of the 8th with one, and Mike Piazza hit a home run.

But they could get no closer, and the Cubs won, 5-3. Jon Lieber went 7 innings to become the winning pitcher. With some irony, Rick Aguilera, a member of the last Met title team in 1986, closed it out for the Cubs.

The Mets were designated the "home team" for this game. The next day, it was the Cubs' turn to be the "home team," but it was, again, the "away team" that emerged victorious. The game was tied 1-1 in the top of the 11th inning, when the Mets loaded the bases, and got a grand slam home run. With some appropriateness, given that it was in Japan, it was hit by Benny Agbayani, their Hawaiian native who, like Hawaiian pitcher Sid Fernandez, wore Number 50 in honor of his home, the 50th State, the site of Japan's 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The games were roaring successes, in every sense of the word: Competitiveness, box office, and public relations. Knowing that any future attempts would have to be done by teams willing to stop Spring Training early, and then take a few days' break to reacclimate themselves to U.S. time, they now had the template for how to run a Japan series.

In 2004, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Yankees 8-3 on March 30, but the Yankees, with Japan's biggest baseball star, Hideki Matsui, homering at his former home dome, came back on March 31 to win, 12-1.

The Tokyo Dome hosted another series in 2012: The Seattle Mariners beat the Oakland Athletics, 3-1 on March 28; and the A's returned the favor on March 29, 4-1. In 2019, it was again the A's and the M's, with the M's sweeping, winning 9-7 on March 20, and 5-4 on March 21. The 2025 season opened on March 18 and 19, with the Los Angeles Dodgers sweeping the Chicago Cubs, 4-1 and 6-3.

The Tokyo Dome has also hosted 12 NFL games, all of them preseason exhibitions. And the Japan games also inspired MLB to schedule regular-season games in Australia and Britain.

Opening Day Is Good

Not as good as closing day, though... on 27 occasions.

The Mets actually won their home opener, 1-0 over the Atlanta Braves. Got 5 shutout innings from Johan Santana in his 1st appearance since... oh, I don't know, the Mets' last World Series win? Of course, Jason Bay got hurt...

In Detroit, 77-year-old Al Kaline threw out the ceremonial first ball, and the Tigers had a 2-0 lead on the Red Sox going into the 9th. But the Sox tied it... and then blew it in the bottom of the 9th, 3-2! Ha ha! The Magic Number to eliminate The Scum is already reduced, to 161!

The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Miami Marlins, 4-0, at the Great American Ballpark. Well, it's a pretty good American ballpark... Jose Cueto started, and did a little Luis Tiant thing with his windup. And the Reds produced the season's 1st rundown -- or, as it's sometimes known, "pickle." The Marlin who got pickled? Former Met Jose Reyes! Hey, Met fans, now are you glad you don't have him anymore?

The Marlins actually opened the season last night, with the 1st official game in Marlins Park, a one-game series against the St. Louis Cardinals. And lost, 4-1. This new era isn't getting off to a good start for the Fish: They were 0-2 before 17 other teams had even played once.

And, of course, last week, the regular season opened in Japan, at the Tokyo Dome, with the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners splitting 2 games.

The Yankees open tomorrow afternoon, at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida against the Tampa Bay Rays. The first pitch is scheduled for 3:10 PM. CC Sabathia starts for the Bronx Bombers, while James Shields toes the rubber (LUV baseball jargon like that!) for the Strays. Most likely, the Trop will be sold out, then less than 30,000 will attend the other 2 games of the series, then they'll average maybe 20,000 the rest of the way.

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Elimination Numbers: Scum 161; Rays, Jays & O's 162

A-Rod: 225 hits for 3,000, 71 home runs for 700, 134 for record 763

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Hours until the Yankees' Opening Day: 19, tomorrow afternoon. Play Ball!

Days until the Red Bulls play again: 2, Saturday afternoon, at the Columbus Crew.

Days until Arsenal play again: 3, this Sunday, Easter, home to Manchester City. Beat Nasri!

Days until the Devils play another local rival: Unknown, as there's only 2 games left in the regular season. But they are in the Playoffs.

Days until the Yankees' home opener: 8, a week from tomorrow afternoon, against the Whatever They're Calling Themselves This Year Angels of Anaheim.

Days until the next Yankees-Red Sox series begins: 15, on Friday night, April 20, at Fenway Park in Boston. Just 2 weeks.

Days until the Red Bulls next play a "derby": 17, on Sunday night, April 22, vs. DC United at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington. (Rescheduled from the night before.) They next play the New England Revolution the following Saturday afternoon at Red Bull Arena, and the Philadelphia Union on Sunday afternoon, May 13, at PPL Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.

Days until the last Nets game in New Jersey: 18, on Monday night, April 23, against the Philadelphia 76ers, at the Prudential Center. Under 3 weeks before New Jersey no longer has an NBA team.

Days until the U.S. National Soccer Team plays again: 51, Saturday night, May 26, against Scotland, at EverBank Field in Jacksonville -- formerly known as Jacksonville Municipal Stadium and Alltel Field, home of the NFL's Jaguars. A little over 7 weeks.

Days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London: 113 (July 27).

Days until the next North London Derby: Unknown, as the Premier League announces its schedule for the upcoming season on the 2nd Friday in June, and the new season always starts on the 2nd Saturday in August -- meaning that the next Arsenal-Tottenham match can't be any earlier than August 11, which is 128 days (a little over 4 months) from now.

Days until Rutgers plays football again: 149, on Saturday September 1, at the Superdome in New Orleans against Tulane University. Not exactly a rivalry game, although Tulane was founded by a Princeton man. And thus will begin the Kyle Flood Era. Good luck...

Days until East Brunswick High School plays football again: 162, on Friday, September 14, opponent and location to be determined. A little over 5 months.

Days until the 2012 President election: 215, on Tuesday, November 6. Register to vote... and on November 6, vote!

Days until the next East Brunswick-Old Bridge Thanksgiving clash: 231.

Days until Alex Rodriguez collects his 3,000th career hit: 471 (estimated around July 20, 2013).

Days until Super Bowl XLVIII at the Meadowlands: 668 (February 2, 2014).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 700th career home run: 741 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 756th career home run to surpass all-time leader Hank Aaron: 1,576 (estimated).

Days until Alex Rodriguez hits his 763rd career home run to become as close to a "real" all-time leader as we are likely to have: 1,610 (estimated -- estimating 28 home runs a year, he should get it late in the 2016 season, maybe around September 1, at age 41).