Dodgers' Offseason Additions Already Making Big Payoff in Japan
The Los Angeles Dodgers have invested in Japan and they are starting to see it pay off before Yoshinobu Yamamoto throws a pitch in a regular season game.
Several former teammates of his on the Orix Buffaloes in the Nippon Professional Baseball league posted a photo on social media of them sporting their new Dodgers gear.
Dodgers-branded wine has been sold at liquor stores in Japan; Japanese publications have previewed the Dodgers' upcoming season as closely as they would any local team; and the iconic No. 16 jersey of former Dodgers pitcher Hideo Nomo has been popping up all over Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers' spring training home. In the two-month stretch that encompassed Ohtani's free agent decision and Super Bowl Sunday, the Dodgers were searched on Google twice as often in Japan as they were in the United States.
The Dodgers have had a strong following in Japan since Hideo Nomo won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 1995 and finished within the top five in Cy Young voting for a second straight time in '96.
Other great Japanese players who have played in Major League Baseball but none landed with the Dodgers, which is why the team's president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made such a push for them to allocate more than $1 billion for Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto.
Friedman believes that Japan has a "passion for the game of baseball there is as strong or stronger than any other country in the world."
This is why seeing the Buffaloes wear blue is so special.
