Dodgers again find they hold the advantage in Japan
The Sporting Tribune's Arash Markazi was in Japan for the Tokyo Series and writes that Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki have helped paint Japan Dodger blue.
Good morning and welcome to The Morning Column at The Sporting Tribune. It’s the first of our weekday 6@6 series, where you can catch The Morning Column, Arash Markazi’s daily notebook, at 6 a.m. PT, and then watch and listen to The Sporting Tribune Today at 6 p.m. PT on X. The show, which is hosted by Arash Markazi and Grant Mona, will hit on the top stories of the day and will also air on KIRN 670 AM in Southern California, 98.5 The Bet in Las Vegas and The Hawaii Sports Radio Network 95.1 FM and 760 AM in Hawaii.
TOKYO – Six (or seven) thoughts for my trip to Japan:
1. I have never been to Tokyo before, but I quickly felt a connection to the many curious onlookers who heard me struggle to ask a question in Japanese.
“Where are you from?” they would ask me in English.
“Los Angeles,” I would say as a big smile came over their face.
“Oh, Los Angeles!” they would say. “Shohei Ohtani!”
It was like I knew their cousin as they would ask me about Ohtani’s historical season last year before transitioning into Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s postseason and Roki Sasaki joining the Dodgers this offseason.
Los Angeles and Japan are separated by 5,500 miles but Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki have seemingly shortened the distance between Dodger Stadium and the island nation in East Asia. It was impossible to walk around Tokyo over the past week without seeing a billboard for Ohtani, Yamamoto or Sasaki or someone wearing one of their jerseys with a Dodgers hat.
2. “There’s more Dodgers fans here than we’d have for this game at Dodger Stadium.”
That was a text I got from a friend who attended Opening Day between the Dodgers and Cubs at the Tokyo Dome. He was referring to the number of Cubs fans who always come out to Dodger Stadium for a Los Angeles-Chicago series, but also to the incredible number of Dodgers fans at Tokyo Dome for the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs. While the Cubs have their own pair of Japanese fan favorites in Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki, it was hard to compete with the Dodgers’ trio led by Ohtani.
“It’s more skewed because of Shohei,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Nothing against the other four Japanese players but Shohei is just such a beast in this whole equation. There’s a lot of 17 Dodgers jerseys here.”
3. The Tokyo Series represented the first two games of a 162-game regular season but it felt like the World Series in Tokyo, if not bigger. The best example of this was the ticket prices for Opening Day. The cheapest ticket, if you could find it, was $3,500. The problem is that less than 1% of the tickets were sold on the resale market so it was hard to even find upper-level tickets at that price.
“I’ve never seen ticket prices that high and inventory that low for a baseball game, World Series, All-Star Game, anything,” one ticket broker told me. “The cheapest ticket for Opening Day was more expensive than the cheapest ticket at the Super Bowl. That’s unheard of.”
4. It only made sense for Kike Hernandez to come up big in a series that felt like the playoffs. Not only did Hernandez start the first two games of the season with Mookie Betts (illness) and Freddie Freeman (ribs) sidelined but he picked up where left off in October, hitting a home run with a game-high 3 RBIs in the Dodgers' 6-3 win over the Cubs last Wednesday.
“Kiki is just a unique person and a unique baseball player,” Roberts told me when I asked about Hernandez. “There are just not many people who have the ability to be a jokester and have a lot of fun but in the biggest of moments be able to calm himself and perform and he’s a big part of our last two World Championships.”
Hernandez relished the opportunity to play in front of the rabid fan base that exploded every time a hitter connected with the ball.
“I love it,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s great that it’s silent when the pitcher is pitching and a party when they’re hitting. That’s my kind of party.”
5. As great as the Dodgers’ two trips abroad were in Seoul last season and Tokyo, it would be hard to imagine Major League Baseball scheduling a third in 2026. You’d have to imagine as long as they have the biggest global star in the sport in Ohtani, they will be a part of a rotation but you could tell the toll the trip had on the Dodgers as they left the Tokyo Dome last Wednesday night to head back to Los Angeles.
“This has been a great trip,” Roberts said, “But I think I speak for the players that we’re ready to get back to our regular lives and our regular routine.”
6. I’ll never forget when I first heard Anthony Bourdain talk about the egg salad sandwich at Lawson in Japan on his “Parts Unknown” series on CNN. It was perhaps the best intro to a food item he had ever given, which is saying something.
“So, I’ve given up many vices in my life, many shameful, filthy, guilty pleasures that I used to like that I just don’t do anymore,” he said. “Cocaine, heroin, prostitutes, the musical styling of Steven Tyler. I’ve cut aside these childish things as they were in favor of a newer, more mature me. One thing I just can’t give up. One thing I keep coming back to every time I come back to Japan. One thing that has an unholy grip on me for no reason that I can gather… Behold the wonder that is Lawson.”
Lawson is one of three popular convenience store chains in Japan along with 7-Eleven and Family Mart. What makes them different than any convenience store back in the United States is the quality of the food, particularly the sandwiches. While the egg salad sandwich at Lawson is arguably the best, the others ranging from strawberries and whipped cream (yes, that’s a sandwich) to ham and cucumber are worth trying as well. But it begins and ends with Lawson's egg salad sandwich, which I've had almost every day of my stay in Tokyo as there is a Lawson inside of the Tokyo Dome Hotel.
It’s hard to explain how great the Lawson’s egg salad sandwich is. One of the best sandwiches I’ve ever had and it came prepackaged from a convenience store. https://t.co/228uPXiUaL pic.twitter.com/BCdoV8L2Cf
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) March 19, 2025
The one thing I did get knocked for trying was the Taco Bell at the Tokyo Dome. I know I should be trying the local fare but I couldn’t resist getting a couple of soft tacos before the opening pitch on Wednesday night and wrestling legend Samoa Joe, who has had some iconic matches at the Tokyo Dome, did not approve.
Knowing there is a Lawson and or 7/11 nearby and you pull this? Diabolical sir.
— Samoa Joe (@SamoaJoe) March 19, 2025
7. Bonus Note of the Day: Thanks to Fox 11, KCBS 2 and KCAL 9 for having me on during Tokyo Series in Japan.
.@SportingTrib's @ArashMarkazi joins @FOXLA from Tokyo...where he's reporting on the @Dodgers historic trip.
"It is amazing...a once in a lifetime trip!"
"The cheapest ticket...$3,500...more than the Super Bowl!"
"You walk around Tokyo...95% Dodgers fans!" pic.twitter.com/dz5cmUevKj— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) March 19, 2025
Media from all over the world have descended on Tokyo - including our own @DarrenMHaynes of course, who got some of his own peers' thoughts on Shohei Ohtani & his electric exhibition home run!@billplunkettocr @kirsten_watson @ArashMarkazi @FabianArdaya @kcalnews pic.twitter.com/NC7MrTZgf8
— Sports Central LA (@SportsCentralLA) March 17, 2025