Shohei Ohtani originates Avalanche of records in the Tokyo Series
Thanks to Shohei Ohtani, MLB takes revenue in Japan and takes impulse for the 2025 season by establishing audience records, sale of merchandise and assistance
The Major Leagues (MLB) They qualified Friday the Tokyo Series this week between Los Angeles DodgersWorld Series champions, Japanese star shohei ohtaniand the Chicago Cubs like him Greater Independent International Event his history.
According to the MLB, the inaugural series of the season, which marked the return to the house of the current MVP of the National League, Ohtani, along with four other players born in Japan of both teams, established records of audience, Sale of merchandise and attendance.
The League reported that the first game of the Tokyo Series attracted an average of more than 25 million viewers on all platforms, which made it the most watched MLB game in Japan’s history. The total exceeded the previous brand of 18.7 million established during the Seoul series of 2024.
The MLB also reported that the Tokyo Series, with two games, averaged more than 24 million viewers, eclipsing the Seoul series of 2024 for almost 7 million, becoming the most watched MLB series in the history of Japan.
The Tokyo series also recorded the highest merchandise sales of any international MLB event in history, exceeding 320% the previous brand of the 2024 London series.
The Dodgers Ohtani shirt and the Tokyo Series patch were the best -selling items in the official MLB store in the Tokyo Dome.
The MLB also reported that its Fans Festival of the Tokyo series, a free event, attracted more than 450,000 people over 12 days and was the most crowded MLB fans festival in the history of the League.
A great start of the season
The impact of Ohtani’s bat, the roars of the crowd in the Tokyo Dome and the beeps of credit card machines in the huge merchandise center that sold tons of items were heard.
All this should have delighted Rob Manfred, the Major Leagues Commissioner.
The 2025 season could not have had a better start for sport, which showed its international attraction during the last week in Japan. Tokyo Dome received a multitude of approximately 42,000 people for each of the four games-two exhibitions against Japanese teams and two regular seasonal games-and thousands more went to the city center to enjoy the show.
All this is part of the good MLB moment when approaching the National Opening Day, on March 27. Baseball enjoys good health with a slight increase in stadium assistance and a faster game pace thanks to a series of changes in the rules that began in 2023.
“On behalf of the Dodgers and the Major Leagues, we just want to say thanks to the city of Tokyo and the country of Japan,” said the manager of the Dodgers, Dave Roberts. “You were wonderful hosts. We hope to have offered a good show.”
It is difficult to argue otherwise
Ohtani’s impressive solitary homer in the victory of the Dodgers 6-3 on Wednesday night put an end to a sweep of two games in which five Japanese players returned home, including four who stood out in the series, sailing the suffocating pressure of acting in front of their fans.
Shota Imanaga, from Chicago, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, of Los Angeles, began the actions with the first seasonal opening duel between Japanese opening pitchers in history. Both complied, with Imanaga by launching four white and Yamamot inputs responding with five quality inputs, allowing a race in five entries in the victory of the Dodgers by 4-1.
In the second game, the rookie of the Dodgers, Roki Sasaki, made his debut in the biggest throwing four lines at 100 mph. He covered three electrifying inputs-although a bit erratic-that showed their potential. Seiya Suzuki, from Chicago, was the only one who had a silent return, without hits in the two games.
But the center of attention was, without a doubt, Ohtani, who handled the enormous expectations with charisma and quality. He connected three hits in eight shifts, with a pair of balls by balls, including the lone homer that barely exceeded the wall in the right-in-central garden, giving the Dodgers a 6-2 advantage.
Even Pete Crow-Armstrong, from Chicago, involuntarily contributed to the scene, throwing the ball of Ohtani’s home run to the stands, where a ten-year-old Japanese child caught her and became an instant celebrity.
“It’s not surprising,” Roberts said. “Nothing that Shohei is surprised. Every night came to see Shhehei act and offer a show. And as Shohei always does, it seems that it always complies. It was a great moment for everyone to connect a home run here in the dome.”
The festive scene drastically contrasted with the two -game series last year in South Korea between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, when the news of a betting scandal that involved the translator of Ohtani, Ipei Mizuhara, tarnished the series and briefly stained the impeccable reputation of Ohtani.
Mizuhara declared himself guilty later of bank and fiscal fraud after stealing almost 17 million dollars from the Dodgers player’s bank account. He was sentenced to almost five years in federal prison in February.
Ohtani was never involved in the scandal, and the toletero responded to the turbulence with one of the best seasons in the history of MLB, becoming the first player to accumulate at least 50 homers and 50 bases stolen in a season, and helping the Dodgers win the World Series against the New York Yankees.
The feats of the 30 -year -old have made the surprising contract of 700 million dollars for ten years that he signed with the Dodgers seems a bargain. Now he tries to return as a two -way player, with his sights on a return to the mound in May while trying to launch his elbow in 2023.
It is fair to ask how much more time your body can, surgically repaired, maintain this rhythm. He underwent an operation on the shoulder (with which he does not throw) during the low season to repair a torn labrum after an injury suffered in the second game of the World Series and has had two important surgeries in his elbow of launching.
But if we have learned something since Ohtani reached the big leagues, the conventional baseball wisdom does not seem to apply to one of the best players seen in history.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this report.
