Japanese players made history during the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season.
Former WBSC Premier12 MVP Seiya Suzuki became the third Japanese player to hit 30 home runs in an MLB season on September 27, when he hit a grand slam against the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League regular season. He added two home runs before the end of the regular season and has two in five postseason games with the Chicago Cubs.
“I’m humbled,” Suzuki said on being mentioned alongside the two stars in an interview with the Kyodo News Agency. “With batting, sometimes things start to click thanks to tiny things, and that happened to me.”
Suzuki joined an elite club including Hideki Matsui, who hit 31 for the New York Yankees in 2004, and two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani, another WBSC Premier12 star, who had in 2025 his second 50+ home run season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and hit over 30 for the Los Angeles Angels in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Ohtani and Roki Sasaki became the first Japanese-𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐧 pitching combo to win in MLB history. On Saturday, October 4, Ohtani earned the win for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Phillies in Philadelphia, and Sasaki picked the save. Ohtani used 89 pitches, 60 for strikes, to pitch six innings. He allowed three runs on three hits and struck out nine. Sasaki pitched a scoreless ninth.
It was the first career postseason win for Ohtani whi also hit two home runs and five RBIs in four postseason games.
The Dodgers lead the Division Series against the Phillies 2-0, while the Cubs trail the Brewers in the other National League Division Series 2-0.
In the American League, the Toronto Blue Jays lead over the New York Yankees, 2-0, while the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers are tied 1-1.
