SI

Shohei Ohtani Is Driving Unbelievable Television Ratings in Japan

Game 5 of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Padres drew nearly 13 million viewers in Japan.

Kyle Koster

Ohtani rounds the bases after hitting a home run in Game 3 of the NLCS.
Ohtani rounds the bases after hitting a home run in Game 3 of the NLCS. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
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Television ratings for Major League Baseball's postseason have been extremely good and could get even better if the New York Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers World Series matchup becomes a reality. How much that matters depends on who you ask. Obviously, it's great for the presenting networks and MLB can put some public wins on the board when it comes to the somewhat opaque goal of "growing the game" and combating tired narratives about baseball dying.

Not to suck all the life and fun out of things but broadly, baseball will be just fine even if ratings aren't great and a huge bump probably doesn't mean all that much for coming years as so much of this is matchup-dependent.

We'll all be back here in the same spot trying to make sense of a 15 percent gain or drop next year.

What is much clearer is that Shohei Ohtani is an international draw. Major League Baseball anounced on Thursday that Game 5 of the NLDS between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers was the most-watched MLB postseason game ever in Japan as nearly 13 million viewers tuned in. Add this to the U.S. viewership and there's a global number north of 20 million.

For context, the population of Japan was 123 million in 2023. Some rudimentary math reveals that more than 10 percent of the country's population was watching a game that aired at 9 a.m. local time on a Saturday.

It will be super interesting to see what the numbers from Japan look like as Ohtani and the Dodgers get closer to winning a World Series. There has to be some cap on viewership but 10 percent of the population watching a game suggests the sky might be the limit.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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