Major League Baseball on Friday called this week's Tokyo Series between Japanese standout Shohei Ohtani's World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs the largest standalone international event in its history.

The only Japanese player who had a quiet night was Cubs slugger Seiya Suzuki, who finished 0 for 4 at the plate. With a runner on second in the eighth inning, he hit the ball fairly hard, but Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy was there to snag the line drive.

The 2025 season couldn’t have had a much better start for the sport, which showcased its international appeal over the past week in Japan. The Tokyo Dome hosted a capacity crowd of roughly 42,000 for all four games and thousands more came downtown to enjoy the spectacle of a wildly successful overseas trip.