It’s not a done deal, but it’s what Major League Baseball would like.

It’s not a done deal, but it’s what Major League Baseball would like.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — The Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics are lined up to meet in a Tokyo Dome opener next season.

Major League Baseball gave the players’ union a draft 2008 schedule on Monday, and the Red Sox would open the United States portion of their schedule at Oakland, according to Gene Orza, the union’s chief operating officer.

Baseball officials have spent several months formulating a plan in which the Red Sox — with Japanese stars Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima — would start the season in Japan against an AL West opponent, then return to the United States for a series at that same AL West team.

Orza said that while Boston and Oakland are leading candidates, it’s not a done deal yet.

“Nothing is fixed. Nothing is certain. Obviously, that’s one of the things we’re looking at,” he said.

The selection of the A’s as Boston’s likely opponent was first reported Sunday by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The New York Mets and Chicago Cubs opened the 2000 season with a two-game series in Tokyo, and the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays started the 2004 season with two games in Japan. A scheduled 2003 series between Oakland and Seattle at the Tokyo Dome was scrapped because of the threat of war in Iraq.

While the discussions for a Japan opener progressed, the players’ association postponed the deadline for the draft schedule, which originally was June 30.

Baseball officials remain hopeful of playing exhibition games in Beijing next March at the complex constructed for the 2008 Olympics.

Probe extends to Orioles’ OF

Baltimore Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons joined the list of players asked to meet with baseball officials after being linked to a Florida pharmacy that distributed prescription performance-enhancing drugs.

A day after SI.com reported Gibbons received steroids and human growth hormone from Signature Pharmacy after both substances were banned, baseball requested a meeting with the Orioles outfielder.

No timetable was set for the meeting, a person familiar with the situation said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made.

On Friday, baseball asked to meet with St. Louis’ Rick Ankiel and Toronto’s Troy Glaus after reports that they received performance-enhancing drugs from Signature Pharmacy several years ago.

Gibbons got six shipments of Genotropin, two shipments of testosterone and two shipments of human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) from October 2003 and July 2005, SI.com said, citing a Florida source with knowledge of a Signature Pharmacy client list.

SI.com said its information dealt only with receipt of the drugs, not use.

Gibbons has not returned a telephone message. His agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, declined comment, citing medical privacy laws and attorney-client privilege.