A sea of Dodger blue has washed over Japan for the MLB Tokyo Series.
Some Dodgers superfans traveled all the way to Tokyo to see the World Series winners before they open their 2025 season. The team played two exhibition games against the Yomiuri Giants and the Hanshin Tigers over the weekend and will kick off the regular season against the Chicago Cubs this week.
One of the above-mentioned superfans, Jeff Baum from Tarzana, took his son on what they called the “trip of a lifetime” to watch the series at the Tokyo Dome. He said he enjoyed watching the Japanese fans root for their teams.
Jeff Baum at the Tokyo SeriesJeff Baum
“They have a cheer for every single player's name,” he said. “They have cheerleaders, they have giant flags, they have noisemakers. They're just constantly enjoying themselves, expressing their appreciation for each individual player.”
And while the reaction might have been kind of quiet for some of the Dodgers, he said everyone cheered for Japan native Shohei Ohtani.
“There was, I don't know, 25% of the people had some sort of Otani merch,” Baum said. “His jersey by far outnumbered the other jerseys by, you know, 50 to 1.”
Jeff Baum
Baum said the store under the stadium was packed with thousands of customers clamoring for special Tokyo Series merchandise. But despite the massive crowd, leaving the game was easy compared to the typical traffic nightmare at Dodger Stadium.
“There's no traffic to worry about because the way the system works is everybody arrives by train,” he said. "There's no parking lot around, so that whole aspect of leaving a Dodger game early to beat the traffic, that doesn't exist. People are there for the entire game. They're in it for every single pitch.”
The Dodgers will take on the Cubs at the Tokyo Dome at 3 a.m. PT on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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