Major League Baseball on Friday released some numbers regarding the Tokyo Series between the Dodgers and Cubs, saying the two teams “set new MLB records for viewership, merchandise sales, and attendance making it the largest standalone international event in Major League Baseball history.”
Among the figures:
- Tuesday’s opener was watched by 25 million people in Japan, making it the largest audience ever for a MLB game in Japan.
- The opener averaged 838,000 viewers on Fox, and Wednesday’s game averaged 361,000 viewers on FS1. The two-day average was up 59 percent last year’s Seoul Series between the Dodgers and Padres on ESPN.
- Merchandise sales for the Tokyo Series were the most for any MLB international event, up 350 percent from the previous-highest, the 2024 London Series between the Mets and Phillies.
Thomas Nestico at his newsletter wrote about several players throughout spring training who stood out to him. Two weeks ago he was impressed by what Ben Casparius was showing in spring training.
“With Casparius’ role on the Dodgers likely out of the bullpen, he has focused mostly on his fastball/slider combo as his primary method to defeat batters. He might not need more than that in shorter stints, but he has been working on a revamped cutter that looks excellent,” Nestico wrote, then added, “His ability to induce elite spin rates gives his breaking balls a lofty floor and his recent developments help raise his ceiling.”
Patrick Copen, the right-handed pitcher drafted by the Dodgers in the seventh round in 2023, was hit in the face by a line drive last August. He’s back on the mound this spring, and impressed Keith Law at The Athletic, who wrote about Copen and other Dodgers prospects this week:
“The Dodgers’ prospect was on the mound on Tuesday and as good as ever, working 94-96 with his four-seamer, 93-94 with the two-seamer, and he had a cutter at 91 and slider at 84-85 that had some real tilt to it. It’s a high three-quarters slot and there’s some effort to the delivery, leading to high walk rates in the past, but the 23-year-old was mostly attacking hitters in or near the zone in this look. It is beyond great to see him pitching at all, and amazing that he seems like he might even be better than he was before the injury.”
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