Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki Trio Just Made MLB History

While some may not like the Los Angeles Dodgers' spending habits, there's no denying the fact that the clubs has been amazing for Major League Baseball as a whole.

Baseball has been a global game for a long time. Masanori Murakami was the first Japanese player to make the jump to the big leagues way back in 1964. Since then, we've seen a handful of Japanese stars come over to the big leagues, including Ichiro Suzuki, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Koji Uehara, Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka and Hideki Matsui, among many others. Now, of course, there have been superstars in Major League Baseball from plenty of countries outside of Japan, such as Albert Pujols from the Dominican Republic, Miguel Cabrera from Venezuela, Rafael Palmeiro from Cuba and the list goes on and on.

But let's focus on Japan for a second. What Los Angeles has been able to do over the last few years has absolutely grown the game of baseball. The Dodgers have aggressively added talent, no matter the price tag. Despite World Series titles and already boasting more talent than any other team in the league, the Dodgers have just continued to add and add and add. And that does grow the game. It doesn't matter if you're in Los Angeles, across the world in Japan, or anywhere in between, you've likely heard of the Dodgers at this point. Los Angeles actually made a bit of MLB history this week as well by becoming the first team in league history to start a Japanese-born pitcher in three straight games with Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, per MLB's Sarah Langs.

The Dodgers trio made MLB history

Apr 1, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) on the mound in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

"With Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and now Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers are the first team in MLB history to start a Japanese-born pitcher in three straight games," Langs wrote on X.

The @Dodgers made baseball history this week! 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/1RMUWRiJXh
— MLB (@MLB) April 2, 2026

All three of these guys are obviously talented. Los Angeles is fortunate to have each of them and it's a testament to what the club has built and how aggressive the front office has been. This also, again, helps to grow the game.

Look back at this past World Series, for example. Viewership for the World Series between the Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays averaged 12.5 million viewers in the United States across the first two games of the series. In Japan, the numbers were right around 11.8 million viewers and it was the "most-watched World Series game ever in Japan on a single network in the country," per MLB.com. Viewership in Canada had a two-game average over 7.2 million across the first two games of the World Series.

These numbers show just how big the game is globally at this point and the Dodgers are a big reason why. What Los Angeles is doing for baseball is phenomenal. The Dodgers have helped to grow the game and we're seeing more and more stars from all over the place having success. This bit of MLB history may not sound like a lot for the Dodgers in the grand scheme of things, but it really is important.