The moment Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki set foot in Japan for MLB's Tokyo series, their homeland embraced them like returning heroes.

Last year, the Padres and Dodgers got the MLB regular season started early with two games in South Korea. This year, it’s the Cubs and Dodgers kicking things off the week before league-wide Opening Day.

Nearly 25 years after Ichiro Suzuki embarked on a Hall of Fame career for the Seattle Mariners, the impact of Japanese players in Major League Baseball is at a high point.