A high-ranking Major League Baseball official said Saturday plans are in the works to possibly hold the 2002 regular-season opener in Japan.
MLB President and CEO Paul Beeston said feasibility studies are under way to bring a regular-season opener to Japan for the first time since the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs played a two-game series at the Tokyo Dome to kick off the 2000 season.
Beeston said a final decision is expected to be made this summer regarding next season's opening game, which would be held outside the United States or Canada for the fourth year in a row.
The Toronto Blue Jays and the Texas Rangers open the 2001 season in San Juan on Sunday, in the first MLB regular-season game ever to be held in Puerto Rico.