MLB Tokyo Series Scores Big, Sets Marks In Media, Merchandise, Marketing
Friday, March 21, 2025 at 03:06PM By Barry Janoff
March 21, 2025: MLB was anticipating a big hit with its Tokyo Series Presented by Guggenheim between Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.
Based on stats, it was closer to a Freddie Freeman grand slam.
MLB said the series set league records for viewership, merchandise sales and attendance, “making it the largest standalone international event in Major League Baseball history.”
In the opening games of the 2025 season March 18-19, the Dodgers won both against the Chicago Cubs. It marked a homecoming for reigning NL MVP Ohtani and four other Japanese-born players on the two clubs.
The MLB Tokyo Series presented by Guggenheim featured 23 sponsors that “activated extensively throughout the country. The event was MLB’s largest international sponsorship event ever generating an increase of +240% versus the 2024 Seoul Series, the league’s previous record.”
SCSK, an IT services provider, signed a multi-year deal to sponsor MLB in Japan, which included SCSK and Net One Systems (an SCSK brand) logos on the batting helmets that will be worn by both teams during the two games.
The list of sponsors for the MLB Tokyo Series included 7-Eleven Japan, Asahi Beer, Brand USA, Deloitte, Dip, Earth Corporation, Google Cloud, event presenting sponsor Guggenheim, IDOM/Gulliver, ITO-EN, Japan Airlines, JTB, Konami (eBaseball: MLB Pro Spirit), Kose, Kowa, Mastercard, MGM Resorts Japan, New Balance, NX Nippon Express, SAMTY, SCSK and Zoom Workplace.
Retailers activating with MLB merchandise included: ’47, Alpen Group, Atmos Pink, Avirex, AZUL by Moussy, BEAMS, Beauty & Youth United Arrows, BTTF, Fanatics, GR8, Journal Standard, Keboz, Kiddy Land, MadHappy, MilkFed, Murasaki Sports, New Era, Ralph Lauren, Ron Herman, THE CAP, and Xebio.
MLB said the Tokyo Series recorded the best merchandise sales of any international event in league history, with sales eclipsing the previous biggest international event, the 2024 London Series, by +320%.
Operated by Fanatics, the MLB Official Store at Tokyo Dome also surpassed sales of all MLB All-Star Weeks beating the biggest previous All-Star sales high, the 2022 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, by +105%.
With more than 30,000 square feet and 140 registers, the store averaged 1,000-plus transactions per hour and sold more than a half million products.
Fanatics said the Tokyo Series generated $40 million in fan gear and trading cards sales, making it the best-selling special event in company history.
The most popular item sold was the Shohei Ohtani Dodgers jersey with the Tokyo Series patch.
The company said more than 12,000 Topps Series 1 Japan Exclusive Mega boxes sold out within hours on the company’s Web site in Japan.
Fanatics said more than 200,000 fans shopped at Fanatics-operated MLB Official Store and MLB Official Shops in Tokyo throughout the week.
MLB Tokyo Series Fan Fest presented by Guggenheim drew more than 450,000 people over the course of 12 days. The free event located at Tokyo SkyTree was the most-visited MLB fan festival in league history.
7-Eleven ran a Tokyo Series promotion and advertising in more than 22,000 stores.
Japan Airlines ran flights on the Dream Sho Jet, which features Shohei Ohtani and the MLB logo on the side of the plane. More than 270,000 applicants participated in a sweepstakes to win Tokyo Series tickets.
Asahi, MLB’s long-standing official beer partner in Japan, produced more than 2 million Tokyo Series-themed beer cans; 448,000 people applied for the Asahi beer sweepstakes.
More than 111,000 people participated in an Ito En sweepstakes.
The Tobu Railway Limited Express Ryomo will be wrapped in MLB’s red, white and navy blue. Trains across three Tobu lines will have the interiors completely wrapped in MLB imagery.
Topps ZeroBase Shibuya Activation was a three-floor interactive experiential fan event. It housed digital touchscreens in a gamified environment — combining trading cards and memorabilia while telling the story of iconic Japanese players like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hideki Matsui, and Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ichiro Suzuki.
The first game of the Tokyo Series drew an average of more than 25 million viewers across all platforms making it the most-watched MLB game ever in Japan.
The second game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 23 million viewers across all platforms making it the second most-watched MLB game in Japan’s history.
In the U.S., where the game started at 5 AM. in Chicago and 3 AM. in Los Angeles, the first game of the Tokyo Series averaged 838,000 viewers on Fox.
The first game average was a +139% increase over last year’s 350,000 viewers for the first game of the Seoul Series which also featured the Dodgers. Together, Game 1 and Game 2 (361,000 viewers on FS1) averaged 590,000 viewers, an increase of +59% over last year’s average for the Seoul Series.
Gig In Japan: MLB Sponsors, Activation At-Bat For Tokyo Series Dodgers-Cubs
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