Dave Roberts Says Dodgers Want ‘Complete Market Share’ of Japan

The Los Angeles Dodgers displayed their dominance on a global stage as they won the first two games of the regular season against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan.

The intention behind picking these two teams to play in the season opener was because the Cubs have two notable Japanese players — Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki — while the Dodgers’ three Japanese stars — Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki — pale in comparison to the rest of a league that has no other team with multiple countrymen (with the exception of the San Diego Padres’ Japanese pitching duo of Yu Darvish and Yuki Matsui).

Manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Okinawa, Japan, revealed that his team is far from finished with adding Japanese talent.

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The skipper noted, via The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, that there is intention behind how the Dodgers are going about sourcing Japanese talent.

“I think it’s very thought-out,” Roberts said. “Everything I say in regards to Japanese players, Japan, the crossover with Dodger fans and Dodger baseball, gets to really essentially making every team jealous or hating the Dodgers.

“We want complete market share of that country. We want every young player over there to be a Dodger fan. So when they have an opportunity to come over, it’s a no-brainer.”

With the recent rise of players heading over to MLB to continue playing at a high level, it makes sense that the Dodgers would want to be the first team that comes to mind with the coming generations of talent.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman doubled down on Roberts’ assertion.

“For us, winning is the primary driver,” Friedman said. “But a very strong secondary benefit is the idea that kids growing up in Japan will be watching Dodger games, become Dodgers fans, will go on to play in the NPB and when they’re making a decision about coming over to Major League Baseball, that it is at least directionally helpful for us to have that recognition and fandom in place as they’re going through that to help us even ever so slightly.”

After the frenzy that surrounded the Dodgers on their recent trip to Japan, it looks like they are on the right track.

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Photo Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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