Tuesday’s first game of the Tokyo Series averaged more than 25 million viewers in Japan according to Major League Baseball, making it the most-watched MLB game in the country’s history.

The MLB season opens in Japan on Tuesday with a duel of Japanese stars on the mound. And then there's Shohei Ohtani, too.

TOKYO -- The expectations for Shohei Ohtani's first trip to Japan as a major league player were massive and unyielding. He is a near-mythic figure in his home country, and his presence there this week felt as much like a royal visit as it did a guy coming into town to play some baseball.