Shohei Ohtani’s games are quickly becoming part of a balanced breakfast for many Japanese fans this postseason.
The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar is in the MLB playoffs for the first time in his career and is helping to power a surge in viewership with fans in Japan watching in massive, record-setting numbers, despite the games being shown in the morning hours due to the time difference between Japan and North America.
The league said Thursday that the do-or-die Game 5 between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series — which also featured a pitching matchup between the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Padres starter Yu Darvish — on Oct. 11 was the most-watched postseason game ever in Japan.
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