The Los Angeles Dodgers have spent decades building a brand in Japan. It has paid off in a big way, as the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and surely more to come were long favored to sign with Los Angeles – an expected future which came to fruition for those three stars. The Dodgers are willing to shell out the money necessary to sign the best Japanese talent from NPB and elsewhere, and even when money isn’t a factor (like with Sasaki), LA still holds an edge.

This winter, Sasaki considered several teams, only to eventually sign where we all thought he would – the Dodgers. How could any young Japanese player turned down the chance to play with idols like Ohtani and Yamamoto? The Dodgers are Japan’s team. Games are carried there. Merchandise is sold there in excess. MLB as a whole is raking in money from Japan as a top international market. While small-market owners and fans may complain about a so-called unfair advantage the Dodgers have, the league itself and its commissioner won’t do much about it.

“I think people are pretty satisfied with where they are,” Manfred told The Athletic after a conversation with NPB commissioner Sadayuki Sakakibara. “The conversation yesterday was that we’ve found a balance where enough players are coming to the U.S. that it drives both of our businesses. And yet, as evidenced by playing these exhibition games, their domestic product’s damn good. I mean, damn good. And that’s kind of the perfect world for all of us.”

Rob Manfred and MLB have no problem with Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani dominance

As long as Manfred is making the owners and league money, he is doing his job. Manfred does not care if every great Japanese player goes to the same team. If anything, that just makes merchandise sales even easier and less costly for MLB. NPB has managed to find a positive outlook about players like Ohtani, Yamamoto and more signing internationally.

“Of course it is not positive about losing the best players to MLB, we want them to play here for our fans,” said NPB official historian Nobby Ito. “While at the same time, it is not necessarily negative because the exposure helps more and more kids to start playing baseball, dreaming of becoming pro players. Facing the competition against MLB for the last 30 years, playing levels have been up and the revenue and attendance are all-time high.”

Ito has the right mindset. While it’d be ideal to keep these players in NPB, if they are destined to leave, they will thrive elsewhere and thus bring more attention to baseball in Japan. There is a reason MLB has regular season games in Asia. The sport is popular, and fans want to watch the best product. Tickets for the Tokyo Series sold out almost instantly.