Dodgers' Japan dominance is being threatened after staying out of free agent market

Munetaka Murakami, Tatsuya Imai, and Kazuma Okamoto all ended up with surprise bidders for their services before their posting windows closed. No one expected the White Sox to make a move like signing Murakami for obvious reasons, but the Astros and Blue Jays weren't named teams to watch for the latter two either.

Dodgers fans knew that the roster didn't have space for any of these guys, but some people were still surprised that none of them ended up in LA.

Of course, there's still the possibility that two of them do — Murakami will be a free agent when Freddie Freeman's contract expires, and Imai has player opt-outs after the 2026 and 2027 seasons — but for now, it looks like a loss to anyone who'll take any opportunity to dunk on the Dodgers.

If there's any part of this that LA might actually be concerned about (probably only distantly concerned, but still), it's a loss of revenue from Japanese fans. Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki are still the three best active players to come from NPB, but some diehard Japanese fans are taking their loyalties to Murakami, Imai, and Okamoto's new squads.

Dodgers already feeling the effects of staying on the sidelines of Japanese free agents' markets

In reality, it's probably just a drop in the bucket. The Dodgers still have millions of dollars worth of sponsorship agreements with Japanese companies and brands; All Nippon Airways even flies three round-trips per day from Tokyo to LA to accommodate the huge volume of fans who want to see a Dodgers game in person. Shohei Ohtani is still Shohei Ohtani, and he would've been able to attract all of those sponsorships by himself.

The Dodgers were never going to be able to sign all of the players coming over from Japan, but with how overwhelming popular they are there, it's hard to watch other teams — especially the Astros — start to expand their markets and win over fans.

But at the end of the day, we have to admit that this kind of diversity in rooting interest is just good for baseball. Japanese fans are already serious about baseball, but even more international attention inevitably grows the game.

We just feel bad for the poor individuals who have suddenly been won over by the White Sox. Welcome to a world of pain.