The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the Chicago Cubs in the first two games of the Major League Baseball season at the Tokyo Dome.

The spotlight will be on slugger Shohei Ohtani this week when the superstar returns to Japan and leads the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers against the

Baseball mania reached fever pitch in Japan on Friday with public appearances of national hero Shohei Ohtani and other Japanese players set to take part in MLB season-opening games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs.

As the cameras went off, Shota Imanaga wrapped an arm around the shoulders of his Cubs teammate Seiya Suzuki. After they posed with stoic expressions, a few photographers asked the duo to smile. Imanaga broke into a wide grin,

The influx of Japanese players on the Dodgers' roster has allowed the Okinawa-born Dave Roberts to reconnect with his background, and now he's poised to guide his team in a season-opening series in Tokyo.

This week, Suzuki returned to his hometown of Tokyo, representing the Cubs in his fourth MLB season. “My goal is to stay in this league and play for as long as I can, until my body stops working,” Suzuki said. “Here [in MLB] it’s so hard with age, but also, whenever your performance drops, there’s always that next guy up.”

Seiya Suzuki was too young and not yet into baseball when the Chicago Cubs last played at the Tokyo Dome 25 years ago. But the memory of being in the ballpark in 2004 and watching Japanese great Hideki Matsui slug a home run for the New York Yankees still resonates with the 30-year-old Suzuki.

Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki describe bonding with their Cubs teammates and inspiring young Japanese baseball players at the 2025 Tokyo Series