The Tokyo Series‘ early morning start for the 2025 Major League Baseball season between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs had many enjoying a very early cup of coffee while celebrating the national pastime. On Thursday, FOX Sports reported the viewership totals for both game one, which aired on the FOX network, and game two, which was broadcast on FS1.
As the Dodgers and Cubs kicked off the season at 5 a.m. Central Time in Chicago and 3 a.m. Pacific Time in Los Angeles, game one on FOX averaged 838,000 viewers. Notably, this marked the best-ever performance for an Opening Day game played in Asia and represented a remarkable 139% increase over last year’s first Seoul Series game between the San Diego Padres and the Dodgers.
Furthermore, the Tokyo Series served as a homecoming for several native Japanese players. The Dodgers showcased Oshu, Shohei Ohtani, and Bizen, as well as Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Meanwhile, the Cubs featured Kitakyushu, Shota Imanaga, Arakawa, and Seiya Suzuki.
Additionally, FOX reported that viewership for game one on the main network peaked at 1,035,000 viewers during the 8:45 a.m. – 8:50 a.m. Eastern Time window as the game was reaching its conclusion.
Meanwhile, viewership for game two of the series in the United States averaged 361,000 viewers.
On the other hand, the overseas viewership painted a much different picture. Major League Baseball reported that 25 million viewers in Japan watched the Tokyo Series opener. This staggering figure meant that one in five Japanese citizens tuned in, making it the most-watched Major League Baseball game ever viewed in the country. In comparison, this was an increase of more than 19 million viewers over the 2019 Tokyo Series, which had an average viewership of 5.6 million people.
According to a release by FOX Sports, the average viewership between games one and two was up 59% compared to the average viewership for the Korea Series last year.
Looking at the league’s history, MLB’s tradition of opening its season in Japan dates back to 2000, when the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs played the first-ever regular-season games outside of North America. Since then, Tokyo has hosted four more season openers, most recently in 2019 when the Seattle Mariners faced the Oakland Athletics in Ichiro Suzuki’s final two MLB games.
Following the Tokyo Series, MLB returned all clubs to a full slate of spring training. The league will officially re-open its 2025 regular season on Thursday, March 27.
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