The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of MLB’s most iconic franchises, with almost 200 years of history, 24 National League pennants and seven World Series titles. When looking around Los Angeles County and a majority of Southern California, the Dodgers brand is extremely strong and is beloved by people of all ages and backgrounds.

That same recognition can be said for the country as a whole and even on a global scale. And when the Dodgers signed Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million contract during the offseason, they saw an opportunity convert an entire country into Dodgers fans.

Similar to how the team captured the hearts of the Mexican-American population of Los Angeles with Fernando Valenzuela and the other instance they gained the attention of the island of Japan with the signing of Hideo Nomo years later.

However, it has been many years since Nomo debuted with the Dodgers, and marketing tactics have drastically changed in response to this new hyper-focused digital age. The team’s latest attempt at forging connections in this new market will involve Gawr Gura, a virtual YouTuber, with the ceremonial announcement of “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball!” before Friday’s game against the Milwaukee Brewers, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times:

This is the part where I tell you that Gura — she said I could just call her Gura — will be shouting out the traditional “It’s Time for Dodger Baseball!” exclamation at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

Except, of course, that she won’t be there.

For the uninitiated, a VTuber is just like any other streamer on YouTube or other streaming platform, except they do so with a virtual avatar and not their own face:

“You stream online, but you don’t stream with your actual face. You stream with virtual avatars,” said Max Kim, the U.S. sales and licensing director for Cover, the Japanese company that controls 85 such avatars, including Gura, that combine for more than 82 million worldwide subscribers on YouTube.

For the Dodgers and the company who is in the business of controlling these avatars, it was a mutually beneficial collaboration. The Dodgers saw an opportunity to generate awareness in an industry with a large Japanese audience. For the Japanese company that controls Gawr Gura’s avatar and many others, it was an opportunity to showcase their product to new eyes outside of their current male dominated demographic:

“The Dodgers and Hololive have distinct fan bases,” said the chief executive of Cover, Motoaki Tanigo. “It’s the diversity of our fan bases that allows us to blend and connect our followers into a unified community, which is the essence of this collaboration.”

The Dodgers have seen an immediate return on investment their signing of Ohtani, with increased attention from Japanese media and sponsors this season. But this has the potential to be their most impactful collaboration yet.

Dodgers celebrated Japanese Heritage Night

Prior to Gawr Gura’s appearance on Friday, the Dodgers hosted Japanese Heritage Night earlier in the week. It was a huge success for the organization with a sellout crowd, their ninth of the 2024 season so far.

Before the game, the MLB Hall of Fame and Museum held a press conference at Dodger Stadium to unveil some artifacts that will be part of their Transpacific Baseball exhibit, including donations by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani.