There was a hotter applause than Ohtani10 times more popular in Japan than in Korea?
Mar 15, 2025
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The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs of the U.S. Major League Baseball will hold the opening two consecutive games of 'Tokyo Series' at Tokyo Dome in Japan.
Prior to this, the two teams started preparing for the game by playing practice games against the Yomiuri Giants and Hanshin Tigers at Tokyo Dome on the 15th.
Attention was drawn to the Dodgers' game with the Yomiuri Giants. It was a practice game, but it was the first game where superstar Ohtani greeted Japanese fans with a baseball game. And attention was also paid to how Japan's most popular team, Yomiuri, will look at home against the Dodgers.
Ohtani came into the batter's box as the leadoff hitter in the top of the first inning. But Tokyo Dome was quiet. This is because the spectators who filled the Tokyo Dome were busy filming Ohtani on their phones.
The player who received the hottest cheers from Japanese fans in significance was Freeman, another leading hitter. The domestic broadcasting team, which broadcasted the game, explained that last year's World Series was watched by huge Japanese fans, and Freeman hit a dramatic come-from-behind grand slam in Game 1.
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Before entering Japan, Freeman told a local newspaper 'Orange County Register'"It is likely to be 10 times the size of Korea anyway"He expressed his expectations for the Tokyo Series. Exactly a year ago, the Dodgers played a two-game series 'Seoul Series' in Seoul, almost identical to the San Diego Padres.
At that time, Korean fans also gave tremendous support to Dodgers players, and the players also had a good time in Korea and went back. In the meantime, there was a huge controversy between Korean and Japanese fans over whether the leading player needed to do 'lip service' that Japanese fans would like compared to his experience a year ago.
Of course, Freeman would not have intended to disparage Korea. It may have been said while expressing his welcome to the new Japanese fans and talking about the influence of his teammate Ohtani. In addition, Japan is much larger in terms of the size of the tournament. Tokyo Dome is a huge stadium with a capacity of 43,500 spectators. Regarding his experience in the Seoul series, he also said, `It was amazing when I walked from Korea to the airport.'
However, considering that he is a star player with fans all over the world, it was clear that he was an inconsiderate comment. It may have increased its popularity in Japan, but it was certainly disappointing for Korean fans.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
