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The Seattle Mariners baseball team made an exciting announcement on Tuesday forOne Piecefans - the team will be hosting a very specialOne Piecenight. This event will give people who love anime and baseball the opportunity to come together and celebrate both things with fellow fans. It is also an important event forOne Piecefans in the USA, and another big event recently that hasbroughtOne Piecebeyond the bordersof Japan and made it more accessible.
The special event will include special activities and a commemorative t-shirt. Plus, the Mariners are not stopping with onlyOne Piecenight. They are also going to host another Anime Day later in the month in conjunction with Sakura Con. That event will have another exclusive shirt that combinesOne Pieceand the Mariners in a fashionable summer printLuffy would probably wear. It is an exciting time to be aOne Pieceand Seattle Mariners fan.
One Piece Night with the Seattle Mariners
Bringing Baseball and Anime Together
The first mention of the Seattle Mariners teaming up withOne Piececame back on March 18th in a press release. The most recent announcement ofOne Piecenight with the Seattle Mariners came via Toei Animation and the officialOne PieceX account, and was reported on by AnimeNewsNetwork with additional information.One Piecenight will be on April 8th, 2025, and will be hosted at T-Mobile Park. The Mariners will be playing against the Houston Astros that night, in the first game of a three-game series.
AnimeNewsNetworkreports,
Lisa Yamatoya, Senior Director, Global Marketing for Toei Animation Inc…., “We’re thrilled to team-up with the Seattle Mariners for ONE PIECE Night this April. We can’t wait to bring this event to both anime and baseball fans at T-Mobile Park. It’s sure to be a great night”
In turn, Liz McCloskey, Mariners Director of Sales Development & Group Events, commented, “We’re excited to collaborate with Toei Animation on ONE PIECE to provide our fans with another fun ticket special at T-Mobile Park. Mariners baseball offers something for everyone over the course of the summer, and we are thrilled to provide our community with unique collaborations at the ballpark all season long.”
Any fans who are holding tickets for the Mariners on April 8th will be given a special commemorativeOne Piecet-shirt, featuring the anime’s logo and titular character Monkey D. Luffy and the Mariners' logo. The shirt was modeled by the Mariners' center fielder Julio Rodriguez. Rodriguez iswell-known for being a big anime fan, making him the perfect team member to be the face of this special event. Toei Animation also reported that ticket holders will have “pregame activations at Victory Hall,” though more details regarding this have not been shared.
Anime Day will then be held on April 13th, also hosted by the Seattle Mariners. This event isbeing held in partnership withSakura Con, and ticket holders can get a “limited-edition Mariner-themed Anime Aloha Shirt.” This unique summery shirt is light pink withsymbols representing boththe Mariners andOne Piecein a repeating design. Anyone who attends bothOne Piecenight and Anime Day can add two special shirts to their collection.
Anime and Baseball
Two of Japan’s Most Popular Past Times
The Seattle Mariners are not the only Major League baseball team in the USA that is having aOne Piecenight. The Boston Red Sox also recently announced they will be having one on May 3rd. Last August, the Red Sox evenhosted aOne Piececosplay event, and released an exclusive bobblehead of Luffy wearing a Red Sox uniform. Other sports teams around the world have been announcing collaborations with anime recently, bringing together sports and anime for fans that enjoy both.
Baseball, though, makes the most sense for anime collaborations. After all, anime is one of the things that Japan is most famous for when it comes to popular and modern culture. One of the other things, though, is baseball.Baseball remains the most popular sportin Japan, and big players like Shohei Ohtani have continued to keep Japanese players at the center stage of the sport.
So really, it makes sense that baseball teams would be collaborating with anime. Both are popular in Japan - and both are popular outside of Japan, too. There is a large overlap in fans of both things, as is proven by the success of these events and the hype surrounding the upcoming ones. Plus, it may help fans of one get interested in the other thing, and find something new to be passionate about.
