SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

RocketNews24 Japanese

Featured

Pikachu steals show at MLB opener, baseball stars introduced at Tokyo Dome with Pokémon music【Video】

Even with Shohei Ohtani in the house, Pikachu still knows how to electrify a crowd.

The Major League Baseball season got off to an early start on Tuesday night with the opening of the MLB Tokyo Series 2025, in which the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers will be taking on the Chicago Cubs at Tokyo Dome. The Dodgers being in Japan also means the return of Shohei Ohtani, the biggest star in all of professional sports, to his native country, and taking the mound as the Dodgers’ starting pitcher for the game was another high-profile Japanese player, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who the Dodgers signed from Japanese professional baseball’s Orix Buffaloes last season.

So it was going to take someone with a lot of star power of their own to capture the crowd’s attention with those home-grown heroes in the house, but if there’s anyone who knows how to electrify the atmosphere, it’s this guy.

Pika Pika ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/8LZGn8I1Yv

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 18, 2025

Yes, none other than Pikachu was on hand, or actually a pair of the Electric-types, one sporting a Dodgers jersey and the other dressed in Cubs gear!

Gotta Catch 'Em All! ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/ElqEe7lZYB

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 18, 2025

Prior to the player introductions, a special video saluting “MLB monsters [who] came to Japan” over the years and “Japanese monsters [who] went to MLB” was played on the stadium’s video scoreboard, complete with Pokémon anime-style special effects for their highlight reels. And when the time came for each player to be announced, they took the field to the sounds of the Pokémon main theme and other selections from the franchise’s soundtrack, as can be heard at the point cued in the video below.

The production brings to mind memories of the Tokyo Summer Olympics opening ceremony in 2021, when athletes from around the world entered the stadium to a selection of iconic video game musical pieces from series such as Final Fantasy and Ace Combat, showing that game music has been legitimized as a proud part of Japan’s modern musical culture.

Though the Dodgers fell behind early, they later rallied to win the game by a score of 4-1. With statistical analysis now showing a 100-percent winning rate for the club when Pikachu is part of their pre-game procedure, I think we can agree that metrics are clear and that the Dodgers management should move to immediately sign Pikachu to the club and have him appear before every Dodgers home game in Los Angeles as they prepare for a back-to-back championship attempt.

Source: YouTube/MLB, Twitter/@MLBONFOX
Top image ©SoraNews24
©2024 Pokémon. ©1995-2024 Nintendo/Creatures Inc./GAME FREAK inc.

● Want to hear about SoraNews24’s latest articles as soon as they’re published? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related Stories

Trackbacks

  1. There are no trackbacks yet.
  2. Trackback URL

Trending Today

  1. Tokyo cracks down on Airbnb-style rentals with new laws limiting operator days and more
  2. America’s first-ever permanent One Piece store is now open [Photos]
  3. Tokyo neighborhood adds new “smart trash cans” to deal with increasing amounts of tourist litter
  4. Japanese viewers of Godzilla Minus Zero angered by unusual number of restroom goers
  5. Pokémon card game’s expansion features art from Fist of the North Star creator
  6. Why people in Japan hardly ever say “sayonara,” and what they say instead
  7. New Era celebrates three decades of Pokémon with new 30th anniversary cap line [Photos]
  8. Amazing Japanese yogurt spoon scoops up every last drop of dairy effortlessly
  9. Japanese convenience store offering chance to have your shopping be effectively free for one day
  10. Japanese hoodie for cat-loving gamers will keep you and your feline friend warm and fuzzy [Pics]

© SoraNews24 —Japan News— / SOCIO CORPORATION

Powered by WordPress VIP

%d