Dodgers, Padres set to open 2024 MLB season with first regular-season series in South Korea

Get your passports ready.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will open the 2024 MLB season in Seoul, South Korea, one of four international destinations that will host a game next season. The two-game series between the Dodgers and Padres, which will mark the league's first regular-season games in South Korea, will be held on March 20-21.

It will mark a homecoming for Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim, who hails from South Korea.

"I never would have imagined that I would have the opportunity to represent the San Diego Padres and Major League Baseball in my home country," Kim said Wednesday following MLB's announcement. "I cannot express in words how happy I am to play in Korea in a San Diego uniform. It will be a very special moment for me."

The Seoul series will mark the first international MLB season opener in five years and ninth overall played outside of the U.S. and Canada. The last overseas opener was held in 2019 between the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners in Tokyo.

MLB WORLD TOUR: New York Mets to play Philadelphia Phillies in London in 2024

The MLB World Tour also features stops in Mexico City and London for the second straight year, with the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies playing a series south of the border on April 27-28 and the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies playing two games across the pond at London Stadium on June 8-9.

In addition to the international regular season series, a pair of spring training games between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays will be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on March 9-10 at Estadio Quisqueya.

“Major League Baseball is incredibly excited for this extensive slate of international games in 2024," commissioner Rob Manfred said. "We are thrilled that our fans across four different countries outside the United States and Canada will have the opportunity to see the game’s stars.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB set to open 2024 season with Dodgers-Padres series in South Korea