TAMPA – The Yankees and Hideki Matsui will open the 2004 regular season in Japan, a Major League Baseball source told The Post.
“The Yankees are going,” the source said.
“They are trying to figure out who they will play.”
MLB is talking to the Red Sox, Mariners and White Sox about being the Yankees’ opponent.
Matsui returning to Japan in pinstripes is an automatic sellout, so MLB may not want to schedule a Mariner-Yankee series, although Matsui against Ichiro Suzuki would create a sensational buzz throughout the international baseball landscape.
It will be the second consecutive year the Yankees open the season outside the United States, since they start this year in Toronto.
The Mets and Cubs teamed up in a season-opening series in Japan in 2000. This year, Suzuki’s Mariners will play two games in Japan against the A’s that will count in the regular-season standings.