KYODO NEWS - May 2, 2018 - 07:06 | Sports, All

Japan and an All-Star team from Major League Baseball will play a six-game series in November for the first time in four years, the organizers announced Tuesday.

The two teams will face each other in the series that begin on Nov. 9 at three stadiums in Japan.

Japan manager Atsunori Inaba said the games will be an opportunity for his team to prepare for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

"We will gun for a win in every single game, with a strong sense of pride for representing Japan," Inaba said in a statement.

(Shohei Ohtani strikes out Evan Longoria in Game 5 of the 2014 MLB-Japan exhibition series)

Samurai Japan and the MLB team will play for three straight nights at Tokyo Dome on Nov. 9, followed by a game at Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima, western Japan, on Nov. 13. The teams will go on to play two games at Nagoya Dome.

An exhibition game between the major leaguers and the Central League's Yomiuri Giants is also scheduled on the eve of the series opener.

The organizers also announced that the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners in the American League will play their season openers at Tokyo Dome in March.

The two games, scheduled for March 20 and 21, will be the first official MLB games played in Japan in seven years. The two clubs are also scheduled to play Nippon Professional Baseball teams ahead of the season openers.

(Jose Altuve hits a double in Game 5 of the 2014 MLB-Japan exhibition series)