Cubs get a taste of NPB atmosphere in exhibition game against Hanshin Tigers: ‘I was feeding off it’

TOKYO – Cubs reliever Julian Merryweather had heard about Nippon Professional Baseball fans’ enthusiasm, but he didn’t know exactly what to expect.

With the team going with a bullpen day for their first exhibition game in Japan, Merryweather opened for the Cubs against the NPB’s Hanshin Tigers. And after a relatively subdued first half inning, the chants began soon after Merryweather took the mound for warmup pitches.

“As a reliever, I kind of liked the energy from the crowd cheering,” he said after the Cubs’ 3-0 loss Saturday afternoon. “I mean, I think the language barrier helped, because I didn’t know what they’re saying. But it was good energy, so I was feeding off it.”

For most of the Cubs on the field Saturday, it was their first time experiencing that atmosphere. It wasn’t so much the size of the crowd. Though it dwarfed any spring training game, the announced attendance of 41,978 was a little over Wrigley Field’s capacity. It was everything else.

When the Cubs were up to bat, walk-up songs and bursts of applause for game action punctuated a low murmur. But in the bottom half of each inning, with the Tigers on offense, the dome filled with noise.

A band set up in the right-field stands, behind a set of giant waving flags, led the chants for each player. When the at-bat went longer than the song, they’d start over again from the top, never allowing for much of a lull.

The drums kept time, and the horns carried the melody, each unique to the batter, with lyrics that incorporated his name. Fans around the stadium clapped along and banged together mini plastic bats.

“[My teammates] all had positive things to say; they really liked cheers,” Cubs designated hitter Seiya Suzuki, who played nine NPB seasons with the Hiroshima Carp before signing with the Cubs in 2022, said through an interpreter. “Myself too. It’s been a little while since I’ve heard the Tigers’ cheers. But I actually got goosebumps just hearing them and feeling how passionate they are.”

They gave Suzuki a special reception, applauding every time he stepped up to the plate and after his broken-bat single in the seventh inning.

He provided some of the hardest contact of the day, lining out in his first two at-bats with exit velocities of 107.5 and 111.7. Top Cubs prospect Matt Shaw also roped a lineout to left field in the second inning. But the Cubs didn’t reach base against Tigers starter Keito Mombetsu through five perfect innings.

Cubs catcher Miguel Amaya broke up the combined no-hitter in the sixth with a single into left field.

“Just such an amazing experience playing in front of these fans, especially here at the Tokyo Dome,” Amaya said.

While baseball in the United States is a more pastoral sport, meant for lounging in the sun-warmed stands with a beer or hot dog in hand, the Japanese fans in the Tokyo Dome on Saturday were engaged in every play.

Cheerleaders danced in front of the Tigers’ dugout as they ran out to take the field.

Vendors in brightly colorful uniforms – coordinated from their hats to their skirts and backpacks – roamed the stands.

Cubs jerseys dotted the stands, concentrated more heavily behind the third-base dugout. But it was clearly a home game for the Tigers, even away from their ballpark. Their fan section set the tone.

Could Cubs fans in the Wrigley Field bleachers take a page out of NPB’s book and draft up songs for every player?

“I fear that something wild is going to happen,” Suzuki said, “so let’s keep it the way it is.”