Dodgers arrive in Australia ahead of season-opening series

SYDNEY, Australia -- The Dodgers landed in Australia on Tuesday morning, four days in advance of their two-game, season-opening series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The series will be played at Sydney Cricket Ground, which was established in 1848. The Chicago White Sox played a series of exhibition games here 100 years ago.

The Dodgers are scheduled to work out at the venue later Tuesday and play an exhibition game against an Australia All-Star team Wednesday. They will then face the Diamondbacks on Saturday and Sunday. (The games will be played at 1 a.m. and 7 p.m. PDT on Saturday.)

In Australia, where baseball is a minor sport, excitement over the event appears to be modest.

Only a couple of television crews greeted the Dodgers at the airport.

The series was referred to on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald, kind of.

“Are the NBA and NFL coming to Sydney?” read a teaser, which included a picture of LeBron James.

The graphic referred to a story on the back page about how a successful series could lead to the NBA and NFL scheduling regular-season games in Australia. The newspaper pointed out that Australia ranked No. 1 internationally in NBA League Pass subscriptions.