There was plenty of excitement and anticipation over the Tokyo Series to begin the 2025 MLB World Tour, and it more than delivered en route to becoming the biggest standalone event in league history.
“I cannot overstate the demand for tickets, sponsorship opportunities and the level of excitement with bringing Ohtani and the other Japanese players back to Japan, has generated,” commissioner Rob Manfred said during Cactus League media day.
While focus was on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs playing Tokyo Series games, there also were exhibitions at the Tokyo Dome and MLB organized a wide range of events and activations, including a fan fest.
The six games drew capacity crowds with total attendance of 252,795. The Tokyo Series Fan Fest additionally drew more than 450,000 fans over the course of 12 days. Also, the free event located at TOKYO SKYTREE was the most-visited fan festival in MLB history.
Video content across MLB social media channels had 88.07 million plays, representing a 75% increase from the Seoul Series, that the Dodgers were also part of when they played the San Diego Padres.
Tokyo Series records
TV ratings
Opening Day of the Tokyo Series averaged 25 million viewers, becoming the most-watched MLB game in Japan’s history. The audience was more than 6 million higher than the previously most-watched game in Japan, which was the opener of the Seoul Series (18.7 million).
The first game also exceeded TV ratings from Opening Day of the 2019 Tokyo Series (5.6 million).
The finale between the Dodgers and Cubs averaged more than 23 million viewers across all platforms to become the second-most watched MLB game in Japan.
Overall, the two-game Tokyo Series averaged more than 24 million viewers and is now the most-watched MLB series ever in Japan. Viewership for the series eclipsed the previous high of the 2024 Seoul Series by nearly 7 million (17.2 million over two games) and the 2019 Tokyo Series by more than 16 million (7.7 million over two games).
In the United States, the first game of the Tokyo Series averaged 838,000 viewers on Fox, making it MLB’s best performance ever for an Opening Day game played in Asia.
When the Dodgers played the Yomiuri Giants, it averaged 18 million viewers to make it the most-watched MLB exhibition game in Japan.
The Dodgers’ second exhibition game — against the Hanshin Tigers — averaged 12.3 million viewers. The Cubs averaged 5.7 million viewers in their exhibition with the Tigers, and 10.4 million viewers when they played the Giants.
Collectively, the four exhibition games featuring the Dodgers or Cubs averaged 11.6 million viewers across all platforms.
Merchandise sales
The Tokyo Series was the best-selling single event for Fanatics as they generated $40 million in sales. That included purchases through the official MLB store at the Tokyo Dome, which surpassed sales of all All-Star weeks in league history.
Thus, Tokyo Dome sales exceeded that of the previous high by 105%, when the 2022 MLB All-Star Game was played at Dodger Stadium.
Sponsorship
The Tokyo Series, which was presented by Guggenheim, the Dodgers’ ownership group, featured 23 sponsors. It was MLB’s largest international sponsorship event ever generating an increase of +240% compared to the Seoul Series in 2024, which previously was the league’s record.
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