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They screamed.

They screamed and made that noise that crowds make when thousands of people scream at the same time, that sound that is heard when the home team takes a lead late in a playoff game.

Shohei Ohtani had taken the field — for a workout.

“That,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said, “was a pretty cool moment for all of us to witness.”

Read more:Dodgers' Tokyo Series trip confirms the team's 'overwhelming' hold on Japan

Imagine if Ohtani had actually taken batting practice Friday like most of the other Dodgers hitters. Imagine the reaction of the 10,507 fans who packed the lower-bowl seats behind home plate and the two foul lines at the Tokyo Dome.

The Dodgers are World Series champions. They have two high-profile Japanese players other than Ohtani in opening-day starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto and rookie fireballer Roki Sasaki. They have other signature players in the likes of Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts.

The crowd’s response to Ohtani, however, reestablished a longstanding truth about the Dodgers: In Japan’s view, there is Ohtani and then there is everyone else.

The Dodgers are the Rolling Stones and Ohtani is Mick Jagger.

“If not for Ohtani, I don’t think all of Japan would be in a frenzy like this,” said Taka Hattori, a 51-year-old fan who wore a custom-made No. 17 jersey with “SHOTIME” embroidered across the back.

Fans cramped into a nearby 30,000-square-foot hall that was transformed into a temporary souvenir store. Hundreds showed up the previous day at Haneda Airport to catch a glimpse of the Dodgers, who arrived for the Tokyo Series, their season-opening, two-game set against the Chicago Cubs that starts on Tuesday.

More than 1,000 media credentials were issued for the games, which are sold out. The asking price on the secondary market for the least-expensive tickets are in the neighborhood of $1,500.

Hattori paid 18,000 yen, or about $120, to join the Dodgers’ fan club, which entered him into a lottery for Japan Series tickets.

He didn’t win.

Read more:Is it smart in a fantasy baseball draft to load up on Dodgers? Buyer beware

Hattori settled for the workout on Friday, as he was able to purchase tickets from a friend at their face value of 2,000 yen, or about $13.

“I personally really like Ichiro [Suzuki],” Hattori said. “I was able to watch Ichiro play here on opening day. But it wasn’t like this.”

Hattori described Ohtani as being “from another universe.”

“Of course, Ohtani is a representative of Japan,” Hattori said. “But it doesn’t matter any more whether he’s Japanese, American or Korean. I feel he’s reached the level at which he is not a representative of any particular country but is rather a representative of baseball.”

Runa Misaki traveled from her hometown of Osaka to watch the workout with her friend Yuko Hanashima.

They said they were drawn to Ohtani as much by his personality as his performances.

“I think he really likes baseball,” Hanashima said. “I think he likes baseball more than anyone. I think that’s why children like him so much.”

Misaki said she would return to Tokyo on Sunday for an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers. Tickets for that game, as well as for a game on Saturday against the Yomiuri Giants, are being sold on the secondary market for more than $600.

“I would like them to open here every season,” Misaki said.

Ohtani’s popularity here is such that other Dodgers have also become famous by association.

Fans waved en masse at manager Dave Roberts, who waved back. They shouted the names of Teoscar Hernández and Miguel Rojas. They shrieked with delight when Freeman acknowledged them with an affectionate wave of the glove.

They also watched batting practice with the same focus with which they would watch a game. Binoculars and mobile phone cameras were pointed at the batter’s box. Some fans observed the action while clutching sleeping babies. The conclusion of every round of batting practice was followed by applause.

Mind you, this was for a workout. The first official game was still four days away.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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For much of the last two years, the Dodgers have felt like Major League Baseball’s Team of Japan.

They signed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. They struck advertising deal after advertising deal with some of the country’s biggest companies. All of their games are now shown on Japanese television. Team officials have stated their mission to “paint Japan blue” and become the nation’s most popular MLB team.

But this week, over their first 24 hours in Tokyo for a season-opening trip, they got to actually feel what being Japan’s team is like.

On Thursday hundreds of people decked out in Dodgers gear flocked to the arrival hall at Tokyo Haneda Airport, hoping to catch a glimpse of the team as it exited its flight from Phoenix. (Unfortunately for them, partitions had been erected that kept players and staff shielded from view.)

On Friday thousands roamed the streets around the Tokyo Dome ahead of the team’s first official workout — with Dodgers hats, jerseys and T-shirts again dominating the scene.

Read more:Hernández: Tokyo Series atmosphere shows Shohei Ohtani is more than 'a representative of Japan'

Nothing, however, compared to what the players witnessed once they got inside: 10,507 fans, in a nearly universal sea of white and blue, packed into the lower bowl of the historic ballpark.

All to watch a mundane, routine, run-of-the-mill workout.

“This is crazy, amazing,” manager Dave Roberts said, his eyes wide as he walked out of the dugout and surveyed the sprawling scene.

“It’s been overwhelming,” added shortstop Miguel Rojas, who was loudly applauded after a rudimentary round of batting of practice. “To say the least.”

The Dodgers knew their popularity in Japan had skyrocketed. It was evident last year in the increased Japanese media attention around the team. The spike of foreign fans at games. The videos splashed across social media of Japanese supporters celebrating the World Series title as their own.

“We know that every morning, in the middle of the morning, the Dodger games are broadcast here in Japan,” Roberts said. “We can tell by the Japanese enthusiasm at games, whether it be at Dodger Stadium or on the road.”

But, Roberts noted Friday, in an afternoon news conference before hundreds of reporters at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, “this is our first opportunity to come to the country of Japan, the city of Tokyo, and actually see Japanese people come support us in their home country.”

Read more:Is it smart in a fantasy baseball draft to load up on Dodgers? Buyer beware

And even for him — someone of Japanese heritage, who still has family in Japan and who spent time in the country this offseason — it didn’t take long to be unexpectedly impressed.

While out in the Tokyo neighborhood of Shibuya after the Dodgers got into town, Roberts said he instantly was struck by sight of the team’s brand on city streets.

“I saw a lot of Dodger hats,” he said.

With the Dodgers scheduled to play a Saturday exhibition against the Tokyo Dome’s normal tenant, the Yomuiri Giants of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, Roberts wondered whether there might actually be more Dodgers gear in the crowd.

“There’s going to be a lot of representation,” he said.

Almost all such attention has been generated by the acquisitions of Sasaki, Yamamoto and, most of all, Ohtani over the last two offseasons. Ohtani didn’t spend much time on the field Friday, appearing for a little more than 10 minutes and doing no more than stretches and baserunning drills. But his mere appearance triggered a roar inside the domed stadium. And when he exited the field, photographers scrambled to capture his every step.

“When Sho came running out of the dugout,” infielder Max Muncy said, “that was a pretty cool moment for all of us to witness.”

Fans right behind the dugout called out almost every player by name — right down to minor-league reliever Jack Dreyer, who has yet to make his MLB debut. In addition to the applause that accompanied each and every round of batting practice, the crowd cheered for strong throws from outfielders, pitchers making catches in foul territory and every deep drive hit to or over the tall outfield wall.

“I don’t normally try to hit home runs in batting practice,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “But I felt like I had to today.”

Muncy described the day as a boost of energy for the team, which will play another exhibition against a Japanese opponent Sunday before beginning its season with two games against the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“It was good for us to have that,” Muncy said. “The long flight, everyone’s still feeling tired from that. So I think that kind of gave everyone a little bit of a boost, just to have fun with it.”

The other thing it provided the Dodgers: perspective — on their popularity in Japan, ascendant place on the world stage and ever-growing prevalence even 5,000 miles from home.

“It’s all over the world,” Rojas said. “I think the Dodgers are trying to get right there with the biggest organizations in the world. I’m talking about Real Madrid, Barcelona, all the teams that are worldwide. And I think the Dodgers are really close to that.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.