MLB Playoffs: Japanese audience for NLDS Game 5 was predictably epic
For all the hype around the domestic television ratings for the MLB postseason, viewership in Japan for Game 5 of the National League Division Series put the U.S. to shame.
The win-or-go-home game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres drew an average of 12.9 million viewers on Saturday (Friday in the U.S.).
Record-setting viewership in Japan for the 2024 MLB Postseason. pic.twitter.com/U0ulZW9ru0
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 17, 2024
That makes it the most-watched MLB postseason game ever in Japan, according to the league, outrating even the last three major league games staged in Tokyo.
Some new numbers in from Japan for that massively popular Dodgers-Padres NLDS Game 5
— Austin Karp (@AustinKarp) October 17, 2024
Looks to be most-watched MLB Postseason game ever in Japan, with 12.9 million viewers
Tack on 7.5 million on Fox in U.S. and eyeing a global audience north of 20 million viewers
According to Joe Pompliano, the ratings suggest 10 percent of Japan's entire population watched the game on Saturday.
MLB says that game 5 of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Padres had 12.9 million viewers in Japan.
— Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) October 17, 2024
Average Viewership
• America: 7.5M
• Japan: 12.9M
That means that 10% of Japan's entire population watched the game at 9 a.m. on a Saturday.
The Shohei Ohtani effect is real 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/8UiOYcJCii
The presence of Ohtani, the favorite for the National League MVP award and the most talented MLB player ever to come from Japan, certainly helped. His presence in the Dodgers' lineup has attracted a daily throng of media wherever the Dodgers play in 2024.
But the game was more notable for the historic matchup between Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish and Dodgers counterpart Yoshinobu Yamamoto. It marked the first time two Japanese-born pitchers started opposite one another in a major league postseason game.
Yamamoto, Ohtani and the Dodgers advanced to the National League Championship Series with a 2-0 victory. Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract — the most money ever given a pitcher — with Los Angeles in Dec. 2023, did not allow a run over five innings in a stellar duel with Darvish.
With so much on the line, and so many Japanese stars gathered in one place at one time, it's no surprise a small chunk of the country tuned in.
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