Major League Baseball has explored the possibility of playing exhibition games in China and opening the 2008 season in Japan, and the Dodgers have in turn expressed their interest. "We would be willing to make the trip," owner Frank McCourt said Wednesday. "As a matter of fact, we would look forward to it. "We just made it very, very clear to baseball that the Dodgers were the first to establish a relationship in Japan and other countries as well. Knowing how very important our relationships are, it would be appropriate perhaps for the Dodgers to be considered in terms of opening or playing in exhibitions games." The Dodgers previously went to Asia during a 1993 postseason tour of Japan and Taiwan, and have since signed Japanese pitchers Hideo Nomo, Kazuhisa Ishii and Takashi Saito as well as Taiwanese pitchers Hong-Chih Kuo and Chin-hui Tsao. As part of their continuing relationship with the Japanese, McCourt and Saito met before the game with Ryozo Kato, Japan's ambassador to the United States.