The 2024 World Series is underway as the Los Angeles Dodgers lead the New York Yankees two games to zero.
Game three will see the series shift to New York after the Dodgers took both games at home to jump out to the two-game lead.
These two historic Major League Baseball franchises could have something to do with the spike in viewership around the United States.
Not only is viewership up in the United States, but Japan is drawing record viewership as Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are both participating.
According to MLB Communications on ‘X,’ Japan averaged 15.9 million viewers in game two, which was the most ever for a postseason game.
The 2024 World Series is averaging nearly 30 million viewers combined in the U.S. and Japan, where the country is drawing record viewership. pic.twitter.com/FMgUrZLbMb
— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) October 28, 2024
The presence of Ohtani and Yamamoto is likely a factor in the spike in viewership as Ohtani is one of the most popular players in the game and comes from Japan.
Yamamoto also started game two for the Dodgers where he was dominant, throwing 6.1 innings and allowing one hit, one earned run, and two walks while striking out four in the win.
With the amount of star power in this series including Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto, it makes sense that viewership is up.
Ohtani appeared to injure his shoulder in game two, but he will be in the starting lineup for game three.
Yamamoto could potentially get another start in this series depending on how deep the series gets.
The game appears to be growing worldwide, and it will be interesting to see if the viewership in Japan continues to climb.
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