The world is watching and Japan is visiting when Ohtani’s Dodgers face the Yankees in Los Angeles

By GREG BEACHAM The Associated Press

Los Angeles Dodgers Shohei Ohtani gestures during batting practice before Game 1 of the baseball World Series, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)[ASSOCIATED PRESS/Julio Cortez]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Shohei Ohtani ‘s first trip to the World Series is a global sports event, it’s particularly big in Japan — and for Japan.

Fans from Ohtani’s home nation bought more World Series tickets for the first two games than from anywhere outside North America, according to ticket broker StubHub. Dodger Stadium was packed to the rafters Friday night for the start of the Los Angeles Dodgers ‘ showdown with the New York Yankees.

“Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers drew big international appeal, especially from his home country of Japan,” StubHub spokesperson Adam Budelli said. “At the beginning of the season, buyers from Japan accounted for 22% of all tickets sold for Dodgers games. This momentum for the expected MVP has carried into the World Series, where outside of North America, Japan leads ticket sales for games in Los Angeles.”

That’s no surprise, given Ohtani’s ascent to a position of becoming an avatar for national identity occupied by only a few athletes in world history, like Lionel Messi in Argentina or Wayne Gretzky in Canada.

Ohtani was already a Japanese icon before his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, but his fame and celebrity has even grown since he joined the powerhouse Dodgers as a free agent and promptly put up a 50-50 season to earn his first major league playoff appearance — and probably his third MVP award.

Ohtani is bigger than any athlete, but the Dodgers are in an even brighter spotlight in Japan because of the presence of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $325 million rookie who signed with Los Angeles shortly after Ohtani last winter.

Straw hat saga

Just how big is this World Series in Japan?

When Yamamoto takes the mound to start Game 2 in Chavez Ravine on Saturday night, it will be Sunday morning back home — and the wildly popular anime series “One Piece” has announced it will delay the premiere of its latest 21-episode arc, which was scheduled to air the same time, by one week to avoid the conflict with baseball.

Yamamoto isn’t known to be a fan of “One Piece,” but Ohtani has said he enjoys both the show and the manga of the globally watched pirate saga. So does the Yankees’ Jazz Chisholm Jr., who even wears a chain featuring Monkey D. Luffy, the irrepressible protagonist.

Must-see TV

Japan has already shown dramatic interest in these playoffs — and not solely in the Dodgers, either.

Game 5 of the Dodgers-Padres NL Division Series featured Yamamoto against San Diego’s Yu Darvish in the first postseason matchup of Japan-born pitchers in MLB history, and also the first MLB playoff game with three Japanese-born players starting. The broadcast drew roughly 13 million viewers in Japan — which means about 10% of Japan’s entire population watched the Dodgers beat the Padres 2-0.

“I just think that it’s going to be a global World Series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I still stand by the fact that more eyeballs are going to be watching this World Series than any other series in history.”

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