Next month, MLB’s Tokyo Series will feature two teams filled with Japanese superstars, as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs head overseas to kick off their regular season schedule.
To commemorate this moment in baseball history, renowned Japanese contemporary artist Takashi Murakami has partnered with MLB and Complex to unveil a historic, limited-edition collection of merchandise and trading cards through Fanatics’ commerce and collectibles divisions.
From exclusively designed jerseys, to Topps trading cards featuring Murakami’s signature vibrant colors and floral artwork, this first-of-its-kind offering for baseball fans plays into the sport’s enormous following in Japan, and better yet, offers them the chance to be the lucky finder of a one-of-one signed card by the country’s biggest star.
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Japan is one of MLB’s prime global markets, especially considering the talent that is consistently featured on its baseball diamonds every year.
Take Dodgers superstar MVP Shohei Ohtani, for example. His merchandise accounted for 57% of total MLB sales across the Fanatics network in Japan, including the MLB Store JP. When the Dodgers signed Ohtani to a then-record $700 million deal, a more than 2,000% increase year over year was seen in the same Fanatics network.
And then there’s the trading card sector of the game, which has skyrocketed from $1.5 million in sales in 2021 in Japan, to $22.6 million in 2024. That brings us to perhaps the rarest of the entire collection.
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Topps, the signature sports trading card brand owned by Fanatics Collectibles, will have a dual-autograph card in one of its sets from Ohtani and Murakami – a one-of-one card.
We saw what the Pittsburgh Pirates were willing to give up for phenom Paul Skenes’ one-of-one card from Topps recently, and Ohtani’s stardom is on a global scale already.
Collectors will be able to grab either a Topps Baseball Series 1 – Tokyo Game Exclusive set ($50 mega box), or the Topps x Murakami MLB Tokyo Series Matchup Set ($120 hobby box) to find this one-of-one card.
The Series 1 set will have Murakami-designed rare cards numbered to five, while the Topps x Murakami Matchup set will be a 25-card set, exclusively on complex.com, which will include other autographed cards and parallels.
As for merchandise, Fanatics will be offering a wide array of Nike MLB threads like jerseys, T-shirts, sweatshirts and more designed by Murakami. While Ohtani is the biggest draw, the collection includes fellow Dodger and Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto, as well as Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
For the Cubs, Shota Imanaga, Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson will have their own gear as well.
Finally, Topps will be on the ground in Tokyo in the Shibuya district with a three-floor interactive experiential that will be open to the public from March 13-16 before the first game on March 18. Digital touchscreens will combine trading cards and memorabilia at the exhibition, and stories about some of Japan’s iconic players, including Class of 2025 Hall of Fame inductee Ichiro Suzuki and World Series-champion Hideki Matsui, as well as current players, will be shown.
And of course, Ohtani memorabilia will consume one of those floors entirely, which will include a game-used bat from the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series and a base from his record 50/50 game this past season.
This year will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first regular-season MLB games to be played in Japan, with the Cubs and New York Mets being the first two teams to do so in 2000.
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