Vtubers and Major League Baseball aren’t terms anyone would expect to be together, but an MLB Hololive event popped up at the LA Dodgers Stadium.
Cue the cutest introduction an MLB game has had as fans captured Hololive’s Usada Pekora, Gawr Gura, and Hoshimachi Suisei on the big screen on July 6. The special baseball event was the first of its kind for the MLB, which the group dubbed a Hololive night. The event included three limited-edition Hololive baseball cards. Additionally, the trio put on a drone show at the end. There were also special T-shirts, caps, and trading cards featuring VTubers in Dodgers uniforms as part of the collaboration merchandise.
This isn’t the first time that Hololive has done collaborations with baseball. Last year, the Vtuber agency worked with the Yomiuri Giants in Japan with a similar program.
An interview between the LA Times and Max Kim, licensing director for Hololive parent company Cover, explains the thought process behind the collaboration.
That night, the Los Angeles Dodgers will face the Milwaukee Brewers. In keeping with the tradition of singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch, Gawr Gura will perform the iconic baseball song at the bottom of the seventh inning.
According to Max Kim, the general idea is to introduce Vtubers to the rest of the world. Cover, and by extension Hololive, want to expand into the United States. In Japan, Vtubers are extremely popular. Unfortunately, the US hasn’t quite gotten on board with virtual streamers yet. While Vtubers like Ironmouse have been steadily gaining traction in the West, Cover wants to join in and grow more. The Los Angeles Dodgers will be hosting a special event featuring a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, which will include various activities and entertainment.
During the event at Dodger Stadium, there will be special announcements made by VTubers Hoshimachi Suisei, Usada Pekora, and Gawr Gura over the PA system.
The LA Dodgers have said that it wants to grow its Japanese fanbase when it announced the Hololive event. This started with the team signing Hideo Nomo in 1995. Nearly 20 years later, the team signed Shohei Ohtani, a prominent Pacific League athlete. With Ohtani signed on to the team in 2023, the Dodgers saw its chance to find Japanese MLB fans yet again.
This may not be the end of the MLB Hololive events. Merch was sold out nearly immediately, and many speculated that the event would be a hit for the Dodgers. If that proves to be true, then it’s likely Cover will want to continue collaborating with the team and the MLB in general.
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