For two days in Japan, it's the Hanshin Tigers who have looked like the class of the National League. In another sign that Japanese baseball has never been better, the Tigers capped a two-game sweep over MLB clubs with a 3-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday at the Tokyo Dome.

Maybe the Hanshin Tigers are baseball’s real evil empire.One day after the Japanese team, which plays in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, shut out the Chicago Cubs in an exhibition contest at the Tokyo Dome,

Japanese baseball eclipses MLB at the Tokyo Dome where not only was a filler game played in spring training; this was a transcontinental showdown that ignited the fuse for the 2025