Last season, SponsorUnited projected the Dodgers to surpass $200 million<\/a> in sponsorship revenue, including 20 Japanese brands among their 76 total partners. The club also topped 4 million in attendance and drew record Japanese TV audiences during its second consecutive World Series title run.<\/p>\n Now, other teams \u2014 from the Chicago White Sox to the Houston Astros \u2014 are trying to borrow pieces of that playbook, even as executives acknowledge the Dodgers\u2019 success represents an outlier few clubs can realistically reproduce.<\/p>\n The White Sox, who share a Camelback Ranch spring training home with the Dodgers, signed power hitter Munetaka Murakami of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows to a two-year, $34 million contract late last year.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, that pursuit has taken different forms, from the Astros pairing a Japanese ballpark naming-rights deal with a pitcher signing to the Toronto Blue Jays, fresh off a scintillating postseason run, bolstering their infield with a Japanese player who could potentially benefit the business side as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly are not going to get to the Dodgers\u2019 level of things that they do, but we want to craft some partnerships with some Japanese companies to be able to let the country get a chance to see \u2018Mune\u2019 in his new home,\u201d Brooks Boyer, the White Sox\u2019s executive vice president and chief marketing and revenue officer, told Sports Business Journal. \u201cAnd hopefully we have the brand of baseball that they enjoy watching and they want to follow, because that would certainly add to our sponsors and our reach.\u201d<\/p>\n Boyer said Dodgers executive vice presidents Lon Rosen (CMO) and Bob Wolfe (COO) have been generous with their support and guidance on how to proceed.<\/p>\n \u201cThey obviously have the unicorn in Shohei, but they have not shied away from teaching us what we should be doing and considering,\u201d said Boyer, who sits on the Camelback Ranch board with Rosen and Wolfe and considers both longtime business partners and friends. \u201cThey\u2019ve been really great with us in giving us a playbook on how to maximize our opportunity here with \u2018Mune.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Boyer took a trip to Japan in January and was struck by Murakami\u2019s immense popularity. The White Sox do not have any Japanese sponsors, but are working on creating those relationships.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you\u2019ll see is certainly some Japanese companies behind home plate, like you do with any of the other teams that have a prominent Japanese player,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll find out if other sponsors are interested in marketing in the local market. We certainly aren\u2019t opposed to that.\u201d<\/p>\n The team already has benefited from Murakami\u2019s signing, as well as the emergence of other young players on the roster, with holiday ticket package sales tripling from last year. As of mid-January, a message from Murakami on the team\u2019s official Instagram account ranked third in engagement across all MLB teams in the month. The White Sox also had gained nearly 52,000 Twitter followers, and TikTok content featuring Murakami captured over 86%-92% viewership from Japan.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an absolute positive shot in the arm to our fan base,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cThis was not on our radar. He was not coming to the White Sox until he was a member of the White Sox.\u201d <\/p>\n The Astros are also planning an aggressive expansion<\/a>, though their initial foray largely started on the sponsorship side.<\/p>\n Astros owner Jim Crane, who already had business ties in Japan with Crane Worldwide Logistics, secured a 15-year ballpark naming-rights deal with Daikin prior to the 2025 season. A year later, Houston landed pitcher Tatsuya Imai on a three-year, $54 million deal.<\/p>\n At Imai\u2019s Jan. 5 news conference, Crane even acknowledged Daikin CMO Takayuki Inoue.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted [Daikin] to be exposed to it,\u201d Crane told reporters. \u201cToday wasn\u2019t necessary to bring them in here, but they\u2019re our partners, and I think they\u2019ll be a big help for us over there in Japan because they have a lot of resources. So we\u2019ll lean on them. And they were very gracious to sign a long-term deal with us here for 15 years, so [we] want them to be part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Blue Jays agreed to a deal with third baseman Kazuma Okamoto for four years and $60 million on Jan. 3.<\/p>\n Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro said the signing provided an opportunity for corporate sponsorships and Japanese telecasts. However, for a team that lost to the Dodgers in a Game 7 heartbreaker<\/a>, it was more about on-field impact.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a baseball decision,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n The Blue Jays, owned by Rogers Communications, did put together a comprehensive breakdown of how Ohtani could affect them from a business standpoint during the free agency process in 2023. However, the Dodgers ultimately won out for the superstar\u2019s services (10 years, $700 million), forever transforming the sport as a result.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really fortunate to have an ownership group that actually puts money into the organization and helps us achieve our goals,\u201d Rosen said in September at SBJ\u2019s AXS Drive<\/a> event. \u201cShohei delivers in many different ways: pitching, hitting, in the box office, in the sponsorships [department], wherever it is. Yes, he does very well for us. And I think it\u2019s helped baseball throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n Other teams are trying to do something similar, even if their payoff won\u2019t be in the billions.<\/p>\n![\"Astros](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3ABCEJTAFRACDIN65YSFCZMRHY.jpg\")
Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai reflects Houston\u2019s expanding presence in Japan. Getty Images <\/p>\n