How Japanese stars Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani and Cubs' Shota Imanaga are revitalizing MLB

Japanese players Shohei Ohtani and Shota Imanaga are transforming Major League Baseball and its fans — and the future of the game.

Last year’s World Series between the New York Yankees and the eventual champions, a Los Angeles Dodgers team led by Japanese phenom Shohei Ohtani, earned the best ratings in seven years. Just a year prior, the previous Fall Classic recorded its lowest viewership in television history.

It’s a dramatic turnaround that can be attributed to a number of factors, including the two large-market teams’ historic rivalry. But experts say there’s another undeniable reason for the reversal: the Japanese superstars who lit up the league. Big names like Ohtani and Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto have helped revitalize baseball, a sport that some say has experienced waning popularity in the U.S. for some time.

Now, five Japanese players are set to headline Major League Baseball’s season opener in Tokyo on Tuesday in a contest between the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs meant to drum up interest in MLB abroad. With this milestone, historians, executives and advocates are reflecting on how these athletes have brought a new audience with them, helping make the American sport of baseball one of international appeal and ultimately helping change the face of both the game and its fans.

“It’s redefining itself as the world’s best league, not as American or North American baseball, and that’s going to help itself as it expands its market to Asia,” said Rob Fitts, curatorial consultant for the Baseball Hall of Fame’s yakyu exhibit. (Yakyu is the Japanese word for baseball.)

Roki Sasaki of the Los Angeles Dodgers prior to a spring training game against the San Diego Padres at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 23.Norm Hall / Getty Images fileA resurgence in interest in ‘America’s pastime’The two-game Tokyo Series, which kicks off the regular season, is the first opener played in Japan since 2019. It’s part of the MLB World Tour, a slate of games the league has planned to expand its global reach. The series joins a long line of openers abroad, including in Australia and Mexico. Last year’s opener was played at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/japanese-stars-ohtani-imanaga-revitalize-mlb-rcna194813

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