Last year, the Padres and Dodgers got the MLB regular season started early with two games in South Korea. This year, it’s the Cubs and Dodgers kicking things off the week before league-wide Opening Day.

Shohei Ohtani took the field at the Tokyo Dome to the roar of applause as a brief snippet of his walk-up song, "The Show Goes On" by Lupe Fiasco, played in the background. Never mind that Friday was just a workout day -- the excitement was real,

With the Dodgers scheduled to play a Saturday exhibition contest against the Tokyo Dome’s normal tenant, the Yomuiri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, Roberts wondered whether there might actually be more Dodgers gear populating the crowd.