Dodgers' next Shohei Ohtani can fall in their lap thanks to Japan's WBC boom

The Los Angeles Dodgers are Japan's team, and any doubt about that was put to bed thanks to a recent poll conducted by YouGov Sport. YouGov surveyed over 1,000 Japanese baseball fans, asking questions about their support for MLB, their favorite team and player, plus their overall excitement for the World Baseball Classic. YouGov also compared the WBC results to relevant surveys in the United States. The results were jarring, and point to Japan's national pride in the sport of baseball that the U.S. cannot compete with.

The Dodgers can (and should) use that to their advantage. Los Angeles already has Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki on their roster. Reinforcements could be on the way if Japan is able to repeat at World Baseball Classic champions, in part because they care more about that title than we do.

Dodgers have an edge in Japan no MLB contender can replicate

The Los Angeles Dodgers have devoted millions of dollars to expanding their brand in Japan over the last several decades. It's why they were able to land stars like Ohtani in the first place. At the turn of the century, there was little commitment to scouting overseas, minus a few big-market teams that could afford to do so. The Yankees, for example, signed Hideki Matsui.

But the Dodgers willingness to put NPB on a level playing field with MLB led to a baseball renaissance in Japan. The sport had always been popular on a domestic level, but bigger and better stars were emerging in part thanks to availability. From the executive level downward, the Dodgers led the industry in locating talent overseas.

That meant finding scouts with local connections in a language Mark Walter and Andrew Friedman don't even speak. I won't minimize this issue because, frankly, I shouldn't. Convincing star baseball players to travel thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean and face the best possible competition is risky enough. Doing so in a different language makes that task tougher. But that commitment has paid off for Los Angeles, as the survey results suggest.

When asked which MLB team they most commonly root for, Japanese baseball fans were unequivocal in their Dodgers support.

A poll of these fans' favorite current players was even more damning for team hoping to stop the Dodgers dominance in attracting Japanese free-agent targets anytime soon.

Yes, the Dodgers currently pay three of the four most popular MLB players in Japan. That's the benefit of paying big for NPB talent, especially those who created a following as homegrown products.

How can the Dodgers find their next Shohei Ohtani?

The easy answer for the Dodgers is to keep doing exactly what they've been doing. While rival MLB contenders have increased their presence in Japan in recent years, they are also a solid decade behind (minus maybe the Yankees).

Los Angeles has a couple advantages in attracting Japanese talent. The first is the players already on the roster, including Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki. That's a solid contingent who are expected to compete for the World Series for years to come. The second advantage is, quite simply, Los Angeles is closer geographically than most other MLB cities. Playing on the west coast, with a major airport close by, makes it easier for these star players to get home than if they played in, say, Atlanta.

The Dodgers also picked the right time to really increase their scouting efforts in Japan. I don't necessarily give them credit for that, but there is no denying that the sport has seen a significant increase in popularity in recent years, mostly thanks to more visibility overseas. For example, the majority of Dodgers games are available in Japan. When Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki dominate most MLB competition, it's bound to inspire future Japanese baseball stars to follow in their footsteps. Just take a look at how many Japanese baseball fans follow MLB, and their reasons for doing so.

The World Baseball Classic will only help the Dodgers reign. As we've already established, the Dodgers are the most popular team in Japan. They are the team most Japanese stars grow up rooting for. They also feature two of the more prominent stars on Team Japan in the WBC (Ohtani and Yamamoto) along with one watching from home (Sasaki). So, how many Japanese baseball fans care about the WBC as compared to the average American?

The numbers speak for themselves.

What can the Dodgers rivals do to make up some ground?

The good news for MLB teams hoping to compete with the Dodgers internationally is that there is no better time to do so. At this point, every MLB team sends scouts to Japan, Korea and all over the world to scour baseball-hungry countries for the best talent. The Dodgers are not alone in that department. All it takes is one Ohtani-level player to change the narrative. If, say, Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga has a breakout season and wins an NL Cy Young award, then he could propel himself into Yamamoto conversation.

Also, Japanese free agents are not guaranteed to sign with the Dodgers! I cannot say this enough, and the 2025-26 MLB offseason was a clear denial of that theory. Tatsuya Imai specifically wanted to face his Dodgers friends in the World Series, so he signed with the Astros. Kazuma Okamoto signed with the Blue Jays, the team Los Angeles defeated in seven games to win their second-straight World Series last November. And, Munetaka Murakami inked a deal with the Chicago White Sox, of all teams. The MLB market is the wild west to these players, especially when they don't have the name brand of an Ohtani or Yamamoto to back them up.

The future looks grim when faced with reality, but recency bias tells us that most NPB stars are merely looking for an opportunity, and that can often be decided by the highest bidder. The Dodgers will not pay $700 million for every free agent. There is hope, though surveys of the general public can always paint a different picture.

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