Alyssa Maldonado
Before Saturday’s matchup against the Cincinnati Reds, DodgersBeat was able to catch up with Dodgers reporter Kirsten Watson and her trip to both San Diego and San Francisco. Watson was very amazed to see the fans at Petco Park and noting that “Dodger fans have always traveled really well.” Petco Park experienced a record breaking attendance with 46,701 fans for Saturday’s matchup.
Watson also touched on the “Ohtani Effect” that clearly displayed in San Diego, since signing Shohei Ohtani this season. Watson comments that since the 29 year-old has came to Los Angeles he has “brought in a whole new fanbase” to an already popular MLB team.
Watson goes on to describe how sometimes it is clear who fans are there to see when fans are still repping Angel jerseys with Ohtani’s name and number displayed on the back. However, since the team’s fanbase is already quite large there was a fair amount of both Dodger and Padres fans over the series.
Sometimes I see Angel jerseys on the road, and I’m like ‘Oh, they’re just here to see Shohei Ohtani’ but it’s true it brought in a whole new fan base. And I think it’s amazing to witness
Kirsten Watson
Watson then went on to describe to atmosphere in San Francisco, and how there was a good turnout of Dodger fans there as well. Dodger fans still made their presence known at Oracle Park that series and even made headlines as San Francisco was expecting a large impact of ticket sales going to the midweek series. Watson understands the loyalty of the fanbase and how it is “tough” to describe which city had more Dodger Blue during each series.
This past week, Dodgers had a giveaway of Ohtani’s first Dodger bobblehead. Watson expressed how she “has never seen anything similar” compared to that giveaway night. Fans had lined up so early that game day, security had to turn them away because they were unable to open gates until 4 p.m.
That night, over 40,000 bobbleheads were given away to fans along with 1,700 of them being special edition. Watson gave insight on how Ohtani himself collects some of the bobbleheads, however, he does not collect his own. He gifts them to his parents and other family members.
To hear more on Watson’s view on the “Ohtani effect” and her experience during the Padres and Giants series, click the link to watch on our YouTube channel.
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