Mariners could open 2012 season in Japan

Major League Baseball has asked the Seattle Mariners to consider opening the 2012 season in Japan with a two-game series against the Oakland A's, a club spokesman said. Randay Adamack, the Mariners' vice president of communications, said in a posting on Major League Baseball's official website that the team was looking at playing the A's twice at Tokyo Dome plus two exhibition games in Japan. "We have been approached by MLB about participating in a season-opening trip to Japan in 2012," Adamack said. "We have been advised that if this all comes together, we would play two regular-season games and a couple of exhibition games in Japan." Among the hurdles that must be overcome before such a series could happen is the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement between club owners and players, contract terms with sponsors, the players union and Japan baseball officials. The Mariners and A's were set to open the 2012 season with three games in Oakland starting April 6 under the schedule for next season released last week by Major League Baseball. Japan-based Nintendo is the majority owner of the Mariners, whose stars include outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, who enters the final season of his five-year contract next year. Suzuki has sparked Japan to victory in the first two World Baseball Classic tournaments, where major league stars play for their homelands. The A's currently feature Japanese star Hideki Matsui, although his contract expires at the end of the season. Major League Baseball has booked three prior regular-season starts in Tokyo. The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs played there in 2000. The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees met there in 2004. The A's faced the Red Sox at Tokyo in 2008. Seattle and Oakland were to have played a similar series in 2003 but the series was scrapped at the last minute over safety concerns following US military forces invading Iraq the day before the teams were set to depart.