MLB Tokyo Series 2025 overwhelming attendance

Article posted by Coliseum, April 2^nd, 2025

Image: Tokyo Dome, Dick Thomas Johnson, CC BY 2.0

The 2025 Tokyo (Japan) Series presented by Guggenheim which marked the homecoming of the reigning National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Shohei Ohtani (Japanese baseball designated hitter for the MLB team Los Angeles Dodgers) along with four other Japanese-born players of the two clubs set new Major League Baseball (MLB) records for viewership, merchandise sales and attendance making it the largest standalone international event in the Major League Baseball (MLB) history.

The MLB Tokyo Series 2025 was a two-game Major League Baseball (MLB) series between the MLB teams Los Angeles Dodgers, the defending 2024 World Series champions, and the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan, and was held at the 55,000-capacity Tokyo Dome in Bunkyō, Japan from March 18^th-19^th, 2025. The series was officially the Tokyo Series presented by Guggenheim due to sponsorship from the Guggenheim Partners (a global investment and advisory firm).

New York (US)-based Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada.

Most-watched MLB Game and Series ever in Japan

‘mlb.com’ stated that 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 audience was more than six million higher than the previously most-watched MLB game in Japan which was the first game of the 2024 Seoul (South Korea) Series (18.7 million) and more than 19 million viewers higher than the first game of the 2019 Tokyo Series (5.6 million).

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. The two-game Tokyo Series averaged more than 24 million viewers making it the most-watched MLB series ever in Japan. Viewership for the series eclipsed the previous high of the 2024 Seoul Series by nearly seven (7) million (17.2 million over two games) and the 2019 Tokyo Series by more than 16 million (7.7 million over two games).

‘mlb.com’ further stated that the Dodgers exhibition game against the Yomiuri Giants (Japanese professional baseball team) averaged 18 million viewers across all platforms making it the most-watched MLB exhibition game ever in the country. The Dodgers second exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers ((Japanese professional baseball team) averaged 12.3 million viewers. The Cubs exhibition games averaged 5.7 million viewers vs. the Hanshin Tigers and 10.4 million viewers against the Yomiuri Giants. In total, the four exhibition games averaged 11.6 million viewers across all platforms.

In the United States 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 (American television network) making it MLB’s best performance ever for an Opening Day game played in Asia. The first game average was a +139 percent 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 Fox Sports 1) averaged 590,000 viewers, an increase of +59 percent over last year’s average for the Seoul Series.

Merchandise Sales Surpass all MLB International Events and All-Star Games in History

The Tokyo Series recorded the best merchandise sales of any MLB international event in history with sales eclipsing the previous biggest international event – the 2024 London (UK) Series by +320 percent. Operated by Fanatics (collectable company) the MLB Official Store at the Tokyo Dome also surpassed sales of all MLB All-Star (contested between the All-Stars from the American League and the National League) Weeks beating the biggest previous All-Star sales high, the 2022 All-Star Game in Los Angeles, by +105 percent. With more than 30,000 square feet and 140 registers the MLB Official Store at the Tokyo Dome averaged more than 1,000 transactions per hour and sold more than a half million products. The most popular item sold was the Shohei Ohtani Dodgers jersey with the Tokyo Series patch. The product assortment also featured successful collaborations with the popular global brands.

In addition, Fanatics announced that the Tokyo Series was its best-selling special event in company history across all sports. More than 200,000 fans shopped at the Fanatics-operated MLB Official Store and the MLB Official Shops in Tokyo throughout the week.

Packed Tokyo Dome and Biggest Fan Festival in MLB History

The Tokyo Dome hosted six games including four exhibition games and the first two games of the MLB season between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers. In total, the six games drew capacity crowds with total attendance of 252,795. During the Mastercard pre-sale more than 380,000 people were trying to get tickets at the same time.

In addition, the MLB Tokyo Series Fan Fest presented by Guggenheim drew more than 450,000 fans over the course of 12 days. The free event located at the TOKYO SKYTREE (a broadcasting and observation tower) was the most-visited MLB fan festival in the league history.

Digital Engagement

The video content across the MLB social channels had 88.07 million video plays, a +75 percent increase from last year’s Seoul Series. The MLB social media content earned 9.17 million engagements, an increase of +50 percent compared to the Seoul Series across the exhibition and Regular Season games played. The posts regarding the Tokyo Series received +42 percent more engagements and +62 percent more video plays than other content published on the MLB- run social media during the stretch.

The MLB published native content in Japanese in the MLB app for the first time leading to strong engagement in Japan during the Tokyo Series. The mobile app saw +206 percent growths among the Japanese users from the 2019 Opening Series in Japan with nearly twice the number of fans accessing the app compared to the average day of Spring Training.

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

Watch 420 member-exclusive videos with valuable tips for your venue