Jun Mizuno’s bar in Toyama, Japan, used to open at 5 p.m. But after Shohei Ohtani began his first season with the Los Angeles Dodgers this year, Mizuno started opening at 8 a.m. so his customers could cheer for the national baseball hero over whiskey highballs and lemon soju sodas.

       Thursday morning was no exception. Mizuno turned on the TV in his bar, Otoko Bar Mizuno Sake Store, and his regulars watched Ohtani win his first World Series, as the Dodgers beat the Yankees, 7-6, in Game 5.

       “The entire country is thrilled,” Mizuno said, as a banner of Ohtani as tall as his bar hung outside the entrance.

       Japan has loved baseball for decades, but Ohtani’s appearances in the World Series alongside his Japanese teammate Yoshinobu Yamamoto elevated the games to soaring levels of popularity.

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       About 15.2 million television viewers in Japan watched each of the first two games of the World Series on average, compared with 14.5 million in the United States, according to Major League Baseball.

       In Japan, the World Series games began at 9 a.m., so people watched over breakfast or during their workdays. Mizuno’s bar in the coastal city of Toyama offered a special morning set for the games: eggs, bacon, cheese toast and black coffee.

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