My Father Was a Giants Fan. Now He Is Obsessed with Ohtani—Will Japanese Professional Baseball Become a Minor League for MLB?

The other day, my father was watching television at my parents’ house.

An MLB game was on the screen. The moment Shohei Ohtani hit his first home run in a while, my father shouted at the top of his lungs.

“There it is!”

He sounded as delighted as if his own son had hit it.

Watching him, I was a little surprised.

After all, my father was supposed to have been a die-hard fan of the Yomiuri Giants for as long as I could remember.

He used to turn on the Giants game at seven every evening and make a fuss over whether they won or lost. Now he shows almost no interest in Japanese professional baseball and instead watches MLB games in the morning.

Apparently, at some point, he transferred from the Giants to the Dodgers. I am talking about my father, of course.

The More Japanese Athletes Succeed Globally, the Lonelier the Domestic Leagues Become

Come to think of it, this is not just about baseball.

The same is true of soccer.

Japan’s top players, including Kaoru Mitoma and Takefusa Kubo, now compete in Europe. There was a time when simply transferring overseas was major news, but it is no longer unusual.

That is proof that the standard of Japanese sport has risen, and it is something to celebrate.

But once people can watch the world’s highest level of competition every day, the domestic leagues inevitably begin to look less impressive.

A player succeeds in Japan, attracts attention from overseas, and transfers. Then the fans back home begin watching the overseas games too.

While we were celebrating the players’ progress, we somehow ended up exporting the audience as well.

The Giants Once Stood at the Center of Japanese Sport

It is hard to imagine today just how popular the Giants once were.

At seven in the evening, a Giants game would begin on free-to-air television. Not only Giants fans but even people who hated the team watched avidly.

It was quite an achievement: even the people who disliked them contributed to their television ratings.

Today, however, the number of Giants games shown on free-to-air television has fallen dramatically.

Japanese professional baseball still draws large crowds to its stadiums, but the days when households across the country all watched the same game are gone.

My father symbolizes that change.

He barely reacts when the Giants win, but screams when Ohtani hits a home run.

From the Giants’ point of view, he is a remarkably disloyal fan after all those years of support.

Will Global Success Hollow Out Japanese Sport?

As Japanese athletes become more capable, more of them move to the world’s top leagues.

Even when a domestic league develops an excellent player, that player’s brightest years are spent overseas.

Just as a homegrown star reaches his prime, he leaves for another country. For a fan, the feeling is complicated.

At this point, the domestic leagues are becoming the minor leagues for the world’s top competitions.

That is what I find myself thinking as I watch my father cheer for Ohtani in front of the television again today.

Then again, even if I tried to discuss anything that complicated with him, he probably would not be listening. The moment Ohtani steps up to the plate, he is glued to the screen.

While Japanese professional baseball worries about losing its players to MLB, my household has already completed its export of a fan to the majors.