The crowds at Tokyo Dome go silent for Ohtani’s at-bats then erupt in cheers for anything he does, but he seems largely unaffected by a level of attention that might be matched by only a handful

Then there's MLB, which opens its regular season for the second straight year in the Asian market. A year ago it was Seoul, South Korea, where the Dodgers and San Diego Padres split two games. It was also where the betting scandal broke around Ohtani's interpreter.

Japanese star Shohei Ohtani showed off some prodigious power in his return to the Tokyo Dome on Saturday night