The Dodgers are Japan's favorite MLB team (and will make billions as a result)
The LA Dodgers have spent years implementing a plan to become Japan's favorite baseball team. Now, it is paying off, accounting for $100 million in additional revenue last year alone.
Last weekend, more than 10,000 people visited the Tokyo Dome in Japan to see Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fans paid thousands of dollars to sit behind home plate and hundreds of media members were on the field with cameras and microphones. But these people weren’t there to see a game — Ohtani and the Dodgers were only there for a workout, jogging around the bases and playing catch for an hour.
This is how much Japan loves baseball, and it’s exactly why MLB sent two of its teams halfway across the world to play regular season games a week before Opening Day.
The Tokyo Series is a two-game series of regular-season games between the Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers in Tokyo, Japan. The Cubs and Dodgers began the week by playing exhibition games against local teams — the Hanshin Tigers and Yomiuri Giants — before kicking off the 2025 regular season on Tuesday morning.
I’m sure some Dodgers fans weren’t happy about the team’s first games taking place at 3 am local time, but MLB doesn’t care. Commissioner Rob Manfred says this year’s Tokyo series will generate $35 million in revenue, mainly through ticket sales and 22 sponsorship deals. It’s also part of a larger plan to grow the game internationally, with most of MLB’s domestic and international TV rights set to end after the 2028 season.