The MLB Tokyo Series

Drew Lerner for Awful Announcing:

Tuesday’s MLB opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, which featured several high-profile Japanese baseball stars including Shohei Ohtani, drew an audience of 25 million viewers in Japan, according to MLB PR. For reference, the total population of Japan is around 125 million, meaning one in five Japanese citizens watched the Dodgers’ win on Tuesday. […]

To put the game’s Japanese audience in perspective, 25 million viewers is larger than any American baseball audience since Game 7 of the 2017 World Series between the Dodgers and Houston Astros which drew 28.2 million viewers stateside.

Incredible numbers, and one man to thank: Shohei Ohtani. He’s the best player in the league by a mile, and probably the best athlete in the world.