LOS ANGELES — JULY 3, 2025 was ONE PIECE Night, a full-blown pirate takeover of Major League Baseball, sponsored by Toei Animation and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yes, you read that right—baseball’s most storied franchise let a stretchy rubber pirate and his anime crew hijack the stadium in the name of friendship and limited-edition merch.
The whole thing kicked off like an epic anime opening. The first 40,000 fans to enter were handed co-branded L.A. Dodgers straw hats and a special One Piece card illustrated by Eiichiro Oda himself—yes, the man, the myth, the eternal doodler behind the world’s longest flashback arc. If you were one of the poor souls who arrived late? Tough. You just got regular baseball. Go sit in the bleachers and reflect on your life choices.
Inside the stadium, it was full anime immersion. DodgerVision transformed into Straw Hat Central. Video boards lit up with One Piece art, character animations, and probably at least three different “Luffy eating meat” montages. Even the concession stands went full otaku, slinging One Piece-branded milkshakes, Icees, soft serves, and other sugar bombs that would power a thousand filler arcs.
But wait, there’s more.
Emily Rudd, who plays Nami in Netflix’s live-action series, showed up to throw the ceremonial first pitch. She didn’t throw a tangerine, but that feels like a missed opportunity. In the 4th inning, the stadium erupted with a One Piece-themed virtual noise meter, probably measuring how loudly you were yelling “GOMU GOMU NOOO” at the opposing team’s bullpen.
And just when you thought the night couldn’t get more extra, a 12-minute One Piece drone show lit up the sky after the game. That’s right—twelve minutes of unmanned anime madness in the skies above L.A., forming Straw Hats, ships, and probably Sanji’s spiraled eyebrows, all choreographed to your tears of joy.
In short: Dodger Stadium wasn’t just a ballpark on July 3rd. It was a live-action fan tribute, a cardboard hat giveaway, and an unapologetically anime-soaked fever dream. Somewhere, Bud Selig is confused. And somewhere else, Eiichiro Oda is smiling.
