[ODDS and EVENS] Tokyo Series Exhibits Japan's Love Affair with Baseball

MLB's season-opening Tokyo Series was a smashing success, measurable in a number of ways.

Holding games on March 18 and 19 at Tokyo Dome shined the global spotlight on the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. At the same time, the other 28 MLB teams were still at spring training half a world away.

So it was massive media exposure for the Dodgers, the Cubs and Major League Baseball. The sport's top story for days.

And even before the games were held, there were huge opportunities for the Dodgers and Cubs and MLB to promote the stars and the sport.

Tokyo Series — *Dodgers teammates (from left) Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are expected to have banner seasons for the reigning World Series champions. (KYODO)*

Take a Friday afternoon press conference on March 14 featuring three Dodgers players, Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and newcomer Roki Sasaki, for example. Around 300 media members from several countries attended the event at Tokyo Dome Hotel, with words, photos, audio and video being published and distributed in all corners of the globe.

Group photos of the three teammates, who have only been teammates since Sasaki signed a contract with LA in January, enjoyed widespread exposure in the English-language and Japanese press, as well as social media.

Tokyo Series: MLB's Long-Awaited Return

The fact that MLB hadn't staged a season-opening series in Japan since March 2019 added to the anticipation, joy and excitement of having the games at Tokyo Dome. Since Ichiro Suzuki's retirement six years ago in a Seattle Mariners uniform at the Big Egg, Ohtani has become, well, the face of baseball.

Ohtani's World Baseball Classic heroics in 2023 helped propel him to the top of Japanese fans' favorite-player list. What's more, his three MVP seasons (two with the Los Angeles Angels and one in 2024 with the Dodgers) have only strengthened their admiration for him.

This was evident whenever one walked around Tokyo Dome or outside the cavernous venue during the Dodgers exhibition games on March 15 and 16 against NPB's Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers. From what I saw, I'd estimate at least 33% of the fans were wearing Ohtani T-shirts or replica jerseys for those games. And the same was true for LA's MLB games against the Cubs.

Yes, it was also a big homecoming celebration for Yamamoto and Sasaki and the Cubs' Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki in their home country. And with Yamamoto and Imanaga starting Game 1, they became the first Japanese starters to face one another in an MLB opener.

But it was an even bigger Ohtani festival, first and foremost.

The fact that he became the first player in MLB history to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season in 2024 certainly added to the excitement. Fans were especially fired up to see him back in action.

Big Crowds and Huge TV Audiences

The Tokyo Series averaged 42,366 spectators per game at Tokyo Dome. Nearly every seat was filled both nights. Elsewhere, live viewing parties were held at sports bars and restaurants and other popular locales throughout Japan, including Tokyo Skytree.

The March 18 opener had an average audience of more than 25 million viewers on all platforms, according to an MLB news report.

As a result, it became the No 1 most-watched MLB game ever in Japan, underscoring the Dodgers' reputation as the fans' favorite team here since Ohtani joined the team. The opening game of the 2019 Tokyo Series (Mariners vs Oakland Athletics) attracted 5.6 million viewers in Japan.

Twenty-three million-plus people in Japan tuned in to the second game via broadcast and streaming platforms.

Put together, the Tokyo Series games represented a dynamic, must-see spectacle for a significant portion of the population here.

Giving Back to the Community

For folks arriving at the ballpark, there was a distinct buzz as the hours and minutes passed, getting closer and closer to the first pitch.

Providing entertainment is, of course, central to the mission of a professional sports league. In addition to games, community service projects are an important part of MLB's identity.

On March 17, MLB hosted a baseball clinic at Seicho Special Needs High School in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward. Presenting the school with a new pitching machine and funds to purchase new baseball equipment was an important part of the day. Having a large, enthusiastic group of the baseball community there enriched the experience for the students, too.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred commented on the importance of the season-opening Tokyo Series and activities like the clinic at Seicho Special Needs High School.

"Both events are part of an overall strategy for growing the game," Manfred said, according to MLB.com. "A youth event like this gets young people interested in the game. That's our future."

Members of the Dodgers and Cubs organizations, current MLB officials and former MLB players, including Takashi Saito (Dodgers, 2006-08) and Munenori Kawasaki (a Cubs player in 2016), participated in the school event. Among the attendees were former MLB stars Ryan Howard, Andruw Jones, Jimmy Rollins and CC Sabathia, representing the Commissioner's Ambassador Program.

MLB.com's Sonja Chen captured the excitement of the event in her vivid reporting.

"The joy on the students' faces was evident as they got to play the game they loved in the presence of those who had experienced baseball at its highest level," Chen wrote.

Gratitude for the Opportunity

In his closing remarks during a news conference after the Dodgers' 6-3 win over the Cubs on March 19, LA manager Dave Roberts took the initiative as an unofficial temporary spokesman for MLB.

It was a fitting moment, encapsulating a flurry of activities over the course of several days.

"To the city of Tokyo and the country of Japan, on behalf of the Dodgers and Major League Baseball, we just want to say thank you," Roberts told reporters. "You guys were all such great hosts.

"Hopefully, we put on a good show."

That they did. From Imanaga pitching four innings of no-hit ball against the Dodgers and Yamamoto holding the Cubs to one run over five frames in his Opening Day start, the fans relished the action. Ohtani's two runs and two hits in Game 1 were the figurative icing on the cake.

The Tokyo Series would not have been complete without an Ohtani home run, one could argue. So it was fitting that he bashed a solo blast to right-center field in the fifth inning in Game 2.

Back-to-back victories for the Dodgers reminded everyone how stacked the team's roster is with talent and depth. First baseman Freddie Freeman and infielder/outfielder Mookie Betts, key players on LA's 2024 championship team, both missed the series with injuries. But other players stepped up in their absence.

Robust Sales for Fanatics and Other Memorabilia Companies

The Tokyo Series also demonstrated that as a cultural icon, Ohtani is a driving force in sports memorabilia and collectables.

For example, Fanatics reported sales of $40 million USD (more than ¥6 billion JPY) for the Tokyo Series, including at pop-up shops in Tokyo and Los Angeles. Topps trading cards and contemporary artist Takashi Murakami's line of limited-edition jerseys were hot-selling items. Over 200,000 people shopped at MLB's stores in the Japanese capital during the week. Multiple media outlets noted that the steady flow of shoppers required the placement of 140 cash registers at the Tokyo Dome store.

In his Culture of Sport newsletter, David Skilling observed, "Baseball in Japan is ritualistic, passionate, and generational. And when MLB arrives, especially with Ohtani, fans don't just watch. They invest. Yet even with Ohtani driving traffic, one element tipped this into the record books: the Murakami collection."

He continued: "Known for his psychedelic flowers and Louis Vuitton collaborations, Murakami brought Japan's contemporary art world crashing into the baseball sphere. The limited drop sold out in minutes. Fans didn't just want a Dodgers cap, they wanted Murakami's art on a jersey. On a hoodie. [Or] on something tangible from this moment. Scarcity was engineered, and it worked."

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Author: Ed Odeven

Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.