Bob’s Bullets - After the Ohtani Festival: Bags of Gold

TOKYO — Well, the Ohtani Festival has come and gone. The Dodgers and the Cubs boarded planes late on the night of March 19th, after the conclusion of the second game of their two-game Opening Day series for the long flight back across the Pacific to the U.S. They left having shattered numerous MLB records.

— According to figures provided by Major League Baseball, that first game was watched by 25 million people, becoming the most-watched MLB Game in Japan’s history, with over six million more than those who watched the opener in Seoul last year (an event also notable for the fact it was the last Dodgers game that Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s interpreter and recently convicted criminal, attended.) Will Ireton, son of Tokyo-based movie mogul Bill Ireton, was there in Ippei’s place this year.