LOS ANGELES (AP) — Although Shohei Ohtani The first trip to the World Series is a global sporting event that is particularly big in Japan – and for Japan.

According to ticket broker StubHub, fans from Ohtani's home country bought more World Series tickets for the first two games than anywhere else outside North America. Dodger Stadium was filled to the rafters on Friday night at the start of the season Los Angeles Dodgers Showdown with the New York Yankees.

“Ohtani’s first season with the Dodgers was well received internationally, particularly in his home country of Japan,” said StubHub spokesman Adam Budelli. “At the start of the season, buyers from Japan accounted for 22% of all Dodgers game tickets sold. This momentum for the expected MVP has carried over to the World Series, where outside North America, Japan leads ticket sales for games in Los Angeles.”

That's no surprise, considering Ohtani's rise to the epitome of national identity has been shared by few athletes in world history, like Lionel Messi in Argentina or Wayne Gretzky in Canada.

Ohtani was already a Japanese icon before his six seasons with the Los Angeles Angels, but his fame and notoriety have grown even more since he was a free agent and promptly moved to the powerhouse Dodgers have a 50-50 season to win his first major league playoff appearance — and likely his third MVP award.

Ohtani is bigger than any other athlete, but the Dodgers are even more in the spotlight in Japan because of the presence of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $325 million rookie who signed with Los Angeles last winter shortly after Ohtani.

Straw Hat Saga

How big is this World Series in Japan?

By the time Yamamoto takes the mound to start Game 2 at Chavez Canyon on Saturday night, it will be Sunday morning at home — and the wildly popular anime series “One Piece” has announced it will postpone the premiere of its latest 21-episode arc was scheduled to air at the same time a week later to avoid conflict with baseball.

Yamamoto isn't a fan of “One Piece,” but Ohtani has said he enjoys both the show and the manga of the globally-watched pirate saga. This also applies to Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Yankees, who even wears a necklace with Monkey D. Luffy, the irrepressible protagonist.

A must-see on television

Japan has already shown a lot of interest in these playoffs – and not just the Dodgers.

In Game 5 of the Dodgers-Padres NL Division Series, Yamamoto faced San Diego's Yu Darvish, in the first postseason matchup by Japanese-born pitchers in MLB history and also the first MLB playoff game to feature three in Japan born players were at the start. The broadcast drew around 13 million viewers in Japan – meaning about 10% of the total Japanese population watched the Dodgers beat the Padres 2-0.

“I just think it’s going to be a global World Series,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I still stand by the fact that this World Series will be watched by more viewers than any other series in history.”

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