NEWS UPDATE:Tokyo fans get the Dodgers on their doorstep……..Read more
Japanese fans attended Los Angeles Dodgers games in such high numbers last season that Michael Spetner, a team executive, joked that “you might think you were in Tokyo” anytime the team was at home at Dodger Stadium.
The club is now trying to bring part of the LA experience directly to fans in Japan with an exhibition titled, Dodgers Experience at MLB Tokyo Series. The exhibition opened on Wednesday at Tokyo Node, in Toranomon Hills Station Tower in the capital’s Minato Ward.
The exhibition commemorates the start of the 2025 MLB season, which kicks off with the defending champion Dodgers, led by Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, facing the Chicago Cubs at Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19.
The 2024 World Series trophy is among the many pieces of Dodger history on display at the exhibition, scheduled to run until March 30. The installation features an immersive experience in a dome and a look at the team through various exhibits.
There is a special corner dedicated to Ohtani’s historic 50-50 campaign last year, and displays featuring game-used uniforms and gear from each contest of the 2024 World Series, which saw the Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees in five games.
Over 200 of the famous bobblehead figures the Dodgers have given away to fans since 2002 are also on display.
Visitors can take photos of the World Series trophy, and those who purchase Champions Pass tickets can take photos standing beside the trophy and also try on the championship rings team members received after their 2020 World Series win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
“(It’s something) which has really never been done before in an exhibition setting,” Spetner, the team’s vice president of business analytics, said during Wednesday’s opening ceremony, which was also attended by former Dodgers pitcher Takashi Saito.
The exhibition also takes a look back through the club’s long history, with memorabilia from Jackie Robinson, who broke MLB’s color barrier in 1947, a ball commemorating the first win by Hideo Nomo and items from the club’s Friendship Series in Japan in 1993, when it faced the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, among many other pieces.
Visitors who purchase Legend Pass tickets can also try catching and hitting pitches thrown by Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a VR batting center.
The Dodgers have long and deep ties to Japan, and the team’s popularity in the nation skyrocketed even higher when Ohtani and Yamamoto joined the club last season. The Dodgers added another Japanese star, pitcher Roki Sasaki, to the fold this past offseason.
The club hopes to grow its fanbase in the nation even further, both for business reasons and to put itself front and center in the minds of future ballplayers.
“As our profile grew here in Japan after signing Shohei and Yamamoto, and now Roki, and winning the World Series, we’ve had so many amazing fans come all the way from Japan to Los Angeles to enjoy our baseball games, our tours and other events at Dodger Stadium,” Spetner said.
“But we know there are thousands and thousands more fans, maybe millions, who are unable to travel all the way to Los Angeles. We feel it is our duty to bring the experience, the excitement, the history of the Dodgers out to our incredible fans.
“So we’ve done this, really for the first time, only in Japan, and are bringing the Dodgers here to meet our fans.”
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