Nearly 25 years after Ichiro Suzuki embarked on a Hall of Fame career for the Seattle Mariners, the impact of Japanese players in Major League Baseball is at a high point

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.

Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night, hitting a home run in an exhibition against the Yomiuri Giants.

Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run home run in his return to his home country and the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers earned a 5-1 victory over Japan's Yomiuri Giants on Saturday at Tokyo. Michael Conforto and Teoscar Hernandez also hit home runs for the Dodgers,

With a crowd of 42,064 filling the Tokyo Dome, the three-time MVP delivers and goes deep in his second at-bat in the Dodgers’ 5-1 win over the Yomiuri Giants.