A week before the 2025 MLB regular season begins in Tokyo, thousands of Los Angeles Dodgers fans gathered to watch rookie sensation Roki Sasaki and phenom Shohei Ohtani in the Cactus League.

The attention on the defending World Series champion and Diamondbacks nemesis extends far beyond the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Fans from around the world travel to Camelback Ranch, the home of Dodgers spring training, to see these two Japanese superstars in action.

Several practice fields are located adjacent to the main stadium at Camelback Ranch. There, fans seek autographs and compete to interact with the players. Nathan Hafner and his family arrived at the front of the line Tuesday at 4 a.m. to ensure the best position for when the practice fields opened at 9 a.m.

“In 2018, it wasn’t like this. You weren’t getting here at four in the morning,” Hafner said. “It’s all about the experience and bonding with people. We have a little nice community here.”

Tomo Yamakita, a Dodgers fan from Japan who now lives in Los Angeles, attended his first spring training game with his wife and son Tuesday.

Yamakita became a Dodgers fan in 2017, when L.A. traded for Japanese-born starting pitcher Yu Darvish. Now the Dodgers feature three players from Japan: Sasaki, Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Yamakita said how proud he is that the Japanese players are thriving in the majors and noted how the number of Japanese tourists has increased over the last few weeks due to spring training.

Tuesday’s game marked the Dodgers’ final spring training game in Arizona.

Heading into the game, the Dodgers held an average home attendance of 11,115 for this year’s spring training games, according to ESPN’s attendance numbers. The only team with a higher average of home fans is the Chicago Cubs, with an average of 12,571. The Diamondbacks have averaged 9,330 fans at home games this spring.

Last spring, when Ohtani and Yamamoto took the field for the first time with the Dodgers, Los Angeles averaged 11,058 fans per spring training home game. The turnout marked a big increase from 2023, when they averaged 9,229 home fans, according to ESPN data.

Many eyes were on Roki Sasaki for his first spring training start Tuesday. The Dodgers first scouted Sasaki, 23, when he was a teenager pitching in Japan.

After signing Ohtani and Yamamoto before the 2024 offseason, and winning the World Series less than six months ago, Sasaki announced what seemed inevitable, an agreement with the Dodgers.

“Not only is he representing the Dodgers, but he’s representing an entire country. There are people who look up to him and Ohtani and Yamamoto,” Hafner said.

In addition to the Japanese stars, the Dodgers signed South Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim this offseason. Heading into the 2025 regular season, there have only been 28 South Korean-born players to play in the MLB.

The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) collaborated with MLB on a posting system that allows players to sign contracts as free agents in the United States.

In 2020, the KBO and MLB agreed to a modified posting agreement, and since then, four KBO players have signed MLB contracts.

Keith Reinhardt has attended spring training games as a Dodgers fan for decades. A New Mexico native, he watched the Albuquerque Dukes, a former minor league affiliate of the Dodgers. These past few years, though, he has noticed a difference.

“You get a lot of Japanese and Korean fans here that I didn’t see 10 years ago when we used to come,” Reinhardt said.

The Dodgers had the highest “get-in” price for their Cactus League home opener at $55, according to ESPN’s data. Hours before game time, the cheapest ticket for Tuesday’s game was listed for $43 on MLB’s website.

Because fans don’t need a ticket to enter the practice fields, many come to interact with the players entering the venue but don’t stay for the game.

Unlike the regular season, where access to the players is limited, spring training provides a chance for more one-on-one interactions with a player.

“You get to see the players up close,” Reinhardt said. “That’s why we like to get here early to watch them practice and do their workouts. It’s just fun.”

World Series hero Freddie Freeman and longest-tenured Dodger Clayton Kershaw received some of the loudest crowd responses, though the largest ovation was reserved for Ohtani.

Several foreign media groups also lined the fencing of the bullpens and practice fields. As more foreign players come to the U.S. to play baseball, the number of media members also grows.

Sasaki finished his time in Arizona with seven scoreless innings and seven strikeouts across two outings.

The Dodgers face the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo, Japan, for a pair of regular-season games on March 18 and 19, and finish spring training a few days later with an annual series against the Los Angeles Angels in California.

Next, the Dodgers dig in to defend their World Series title.

“(Spring training) gives the fans a way to say thank you to the players for an absolute extensive, great run to the World Series,” Hafner said.