Fanatics, a giant in the world of sports apparel and collectibles, hit a home run during MLB¡¯s Tokyo Series.
The company announced on Thursday that the series, which saw Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Chicago Cubs to open the 2025 MLB season at Tokyo Dome on March 18 and 19, generated $40 million in sales, making it the best-selling special event in company history.
The total includes Tokyo Series fan gear and trading cards sold across the company¡¯s ecommerce platforms and in official MLB retail locations in Tokyo, pop-up stores in LA and Tokyo and the MLB Flagship store in New York, among other locations.
According to the company, over 200,000 fans shopped at the official MLB stores operated by Fanatics in Tokyo during the week. The company said there was a line of over 2,000 fans waiting to enter the official store at Tokyo Dome prior to the first game of the MLB season on March 18, and that the location had 140 registers in operation to keep up with the demand.
The company reported that it also moved more than 12,000 Topps Series 1 Japan Exclusive Mega Boxes, which sold out within hours on the Topps online store in Japan.
The Takashi Murakami x MLB Tokyo Series collection, a series of items designed in collaboration with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, sold out in less than an hour on the Fanatics app, with the company saying most items were sold out in less than 15 minutes.
The Tokyo Series generated massive interest in Japan, as Ohtani returned with the reigning World Series champions and fellow Japanese stars Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. The Cubs featured Japanese pitcher Shota Imanaga and slugger Seiya Suzuki on their roster.
According to MLB, the opening game of the series was watched by 25 million viewers across all platforms, making it the most-watched MLB game ever in Japan. It beat the previous high ¡ª which came during last year¡¯s opening series in Seoul that featured Ohtani¡¯s Dodgers debut ¡ª by over 6 million.
Over 40,000 fans attended both regular-season games at Tokyo Dome.
The Dodgers won both contests, with Yamamoto earning the win in the opener, and Ohtani hitting his first home run of the season in the second game.
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