MLB’s biggest Japanese stars were on full display as Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers beat the Cubs 4–1 on Tuesday in front of more than 42,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome to open the 2025 regular season.

The game, which was a primetime affair in Japan, aired at 6 a.m. ET on Fox in the U.S.

Ohtani, the reigning NL MVP, went 2-for-5 from the plate and scored two runs. The two-way star is scheduled to begin pitching again in May, but his fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto recorded the win, giving up three hits and one earned run across five innings. Yamamoto left Japan’s top league after the 2023 season to sign a 12-year, $325 million contract with Los Angeles. Ohtani is entering the second season of his record, 10-year, $700 million deal.

Fellow Japanese players pitcher Shota Imanaga and DH Seiya Suzuki were also in the lineup for the Cubs.

Last week, resale ticket prices for Tuesday’s game had reached $2,000. On game day, less than 1% of the tickets were reportedly available on secondary markets, with the cheapest ones selling for $3,500. That’s more expensive than the ultimate get-in price for Super Bowl LIX last month in New Orleans.

International Flair

Fox Sports did not send its announcers overseas for the two-game Tokyo Series, which will conclude Wednesday morning (ET) on FS1. Jason Benetti and A.J. Pierzynski called Tuesday’s game remotely. Adam Amin will sub in for Benetti in Game 2.

While the U.S. TV ratings for the early-morning games won’t be great, viewership for the series in Japan should be sky-high. There were record numbers for the Dodgers-Yankees World Series, despite those games airing in the morning in Japan due to the 16-hour time difference from the U.S. West Coast. Game 1 of the World Series drew an average Japanese audience of 14.4 million.

A Wednesday night game in Utah may end up being consequential to the future of the NBA. The Wizards and Jazz, both sitting at the bottom of their conferences with 15 wins each, face off for the second and final time.

Both teams are chasing the league’s worst record, and while the bottom three teams will have an equal shot at the top pick in the 2025 NBA draft (14%), the team in last can only drop as low as fifth—a valuable position in a draft projected to have strong top-end talent—while the better team can fall to sixth.

It would therefore benefit both teams to lose Wednesday’s game, making it enticing to rest their best players. However, that could come with a cost.

The NBA issued a Player Participation Policy starting last season which allows them to fine teams for resting “star” players. A first violation costs $100,000, a second costs $250,000, and every subsequent violation will be an additional $1 million on top of the $250,000 fine.

Utah received a $100,000 fine last week for resting Lauri Markkanen against Washington when the two first met on March 5. Markkanen missed nine games from Feb. 24 to March 10, but returned March 12 and has played in the team’s last four games.

The league is also reportedly investigating other teams, including the Thunder and Sixers, for potentially violating the policy meant to stop teams from tanking or contending teams like Oklahoma City from resting their stars for the playoffs.

A Loophole?

It appeared like there may be a loophole in the league’s policy since violations were based on resting “star” players. The policy defined star players as “any player who, in any of the prior three seasons, was named to the All-NBA Team or All-Star Team.” Markkanen qualified as a star for his All-Star appearance in 2023.

Teams without a “star” by the league’s definition, like the Nets, could ostensibly be free from the rules. Some teams have only one player who qualifies as a “star” like the Wizards (Khris Middleton) and Raptors (Scottie Barnes).

But in Part II of the policy, the NBA made sure to cover for “other” players as well: “The league office may elect in its discretion to investigate and/or impose discipline in other circumstances involving star player (or other player) non-participation.” This means the league could theoretically impose penalties for extended absences of any player, regardless of whether they qualify as a “star.”

However, the league has yet to crack down on other teams for violations despite several teams actively resting players. The Jazz are the only team that have been fined for violating the Player Participation Policy at this point in the season.

The Giants received a nine-figure cash infusion Monday, selling 10% of the team to private equity firm Sixth Street.

The New York Times first reported the deal.

Details of the stake, including what it valued the franchise at, were not made public, but Forbes valued the team at $3.8 billion at the start of the 2024 season. That ranked fifth among MLB teams. 

The team plans to use the money to upgrade its facilities, including the 25-year-old Oracle Park, its Arizona spring training complex, and the Mission Rock real estate development in San Francisco.

“This is our first significant investment in three decades,” Giants president Larry Baer said in a release. (The team had sold a stake to Buster Posey in 2022, but that was apparently not a “significant” part of the team. Posey took over baseball operations last year.)

Greg Johnson, the son of 92-year-old billionaire Charles Johnson, is the team’s designated control person, but the team has 35 owners, a conglomerate that includes real estate developer Scott Seligman and Arctos Partners, another private equity company.

The Giants ran one of the biggest payrolls in baseball in their dynasty years last decade but have slipped to the middle of the pack in recent years. Baer said the new money would not be spent on players.

“This is not about a stockpile for the next Aaron Judge,” Baer said, referring to the star San Francisco fruitlessly pursued in free agency two years ago. “This is about improvements to the ballpark, making big bets on San Francisco and the community around us, and having the firepower to take us into the next generation.”

In addition to Judge, the Giants have missed out on Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper in free agency and backed out of a 13-year deal with Carlos Correa over medical concerns.

The Giants are Sixth Street’s first MLB investment as the firm also has stakes in the San Antonio Spurs, soccer teams FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, and a controlling share of Bay FC in the NWSL. 

Sixth Street was founded in 2009 and is based out of San Francisco. The firm’s assets total $100 billion.

MLB and Private Equity 

Baseball was relatively early to PE money.

It opened its ranks to firms in 2019, well before the NFL and a year before the NBA did so.

Under current MLB rules, a PE firm can invest up to 15% in a franchise with no restrictions on the number of teams it could hold a stake in. Teams can’t sell more than 30% of their shares to private equity. 

In 2020, NBA owners allowed PE to invest in teams, but they aren’t allowed to take controlling stakes. Unlike in MLB, PE firms are limited to having stakes in a maximum of five teams with a cap of 20%. 

The NHL allows private equity to own up to 20% of a team and teams to sell up to 30% to firms.

The NHL also requires a minimum investment of $20 million. PE companies can have a stake in up to five NHL teams. 

The NFL is the most recent U.S. league to allow PE investment. In 2024, the league approved eight PE firms to buy up to 10% of teams.

Other Known PE Stakes

The Giants already had investment from Arctos, which has a stake in a number of other MLB teams including the Red Sox (through parent company Fenway Sports Group), Dodgers, Cubs, Astros, and Padres. Fenway Sports Group also has an investment from RedBird Capital, and the Padres also have Ares Management as an investor in secured debt.

Editors’ note: RedBird Capital is the parent company of RedBird IMI, the majority owner of Front Office Sports.