The Tokyo Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs is a full circle moment for Japanese baseball.

Shohei Ohtani is widely regarded as the best player in Major League Baseball, and Ichiro Suzuki enters the Hall of Fame later this year, reminders that some of the top talent in American baseball is now Japanese.

No player in professional baseball history has slugged more home runs than the 868 that Oh hit over 22 seasons with the Yomiuri Giants, the Japanese equivalent of the New York Yankees. “He was almost like a figment of my imagination and like a folk hero,” Roberts said. “A fictional character.”