Dodgers-Cubs opener in Tokyo averages more than 25 million viewers in Japan, a record audience

Tuesday’s first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan, according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country’s history.

The audience for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs surpassed the 18.7 million viewers who tuned in for the first game of last year’s Seoul Series in South Korea, which featured the Dodgers against the San Diego Padres.

Tuesday’s game featured the first all-Japanese starting pitching duel on opening day. Los Angeles’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one run in five innings while Chicago’s Shota Imanaga threw four scoreless frames.

The Dodgers’ 6-3 win on Wednesday, which featured a towering solo home run by Shohei Ohtani, averaged more than 23 million Japanese viewers. The second game also featured pitcher Roki Sasaki making his Dodgers’ debut.

The two games in the U.S. — which started at 5 a.m. CDT in Chicago and 3 a.m. PDT in Los Angeles — averaged 590,000 viewers.

Tuesday’s game on Fox averaged 838,000 viewers with Wednesday’s on FS1 drawing 361,000.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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