For years, while football fans salivated over Fifa World Cups, and basketball and hockey enthusiasts enjoyed an endless parade of NBA and NHL stars at the Olympics, baseball fans had bupkis, with no legitimate international tournament to speak of. Instead, there was something called the Baseball World Cup. Played without a Yankee, Cub or Dodger in sight, but with representatives from teams including the Montgomery Biscuits, Mexico Red Devils and Winnipeg Goldeyes, few fans in North America knew it existed, or when it was played. The only team with legit talent, Cuba, with players who could play in Major League Baseball, but did not because of politics, dominated the tournament.
Then in 2006 came a breakthrough with the debut of the 16-nation World Baseball Classic, which featured legitimate professional stars. The platform was built, the mysterious Cubans finally got to play in the US and the fans came. The tournament averaged nearly 19,000 fans a game, and that included the empty seat, Australia-Italy type match-ups. The face paint was bright, the vibes were October-like and the games were compelling; Japan held off Cuba as they took the maiden crown. The WBC passed its first test with a flourish and moved boldly into the future.
Now, 20 years on, the question is simple: does the WBC work? The answer is complicated.
Big picture? The arrow is pointing up. The WBC is now the international baseball tournament (the Olympic event will return for LA 2028 but baseball at the Games has often seemed like an afterthought). For all the differences between the WBC’s co-owners – the MLB Players’ Association and MLB – the one thing that brings them together is money, and this event is profitable, taking in about $100m in 2023. With that kind of coin, the WBC must now be seen as a permanent and impactful part of baseball’s landscape.
The 2023 tournament was when the WBC really took off in the US, as casual American viewers found an antidote to the dullest part of the North American sports calendar. And it didn’t hurt that the US and Japan put together a stellar final, with the last out featuring Shohei Ohtani overpowering Mike Trout.
The US ratings were superb, and the success of the tournament led to a $100m deal for Netflix to broadcast the tournament in Japan. Yes, the global side of the WBC was always the easier sell; just take one look at the Dominican crowd after Juan Soto’s home run on Tuesday in Santo Domingo.
The Asian leagues – Japan’s NPB and Korea’s KBO – are also standing firmly behind the project: Korea has upped the ante for its own players, offering a prize for reaching the quarter-finals for the first time, and increasing the bonus money for reaching the semis or final.
Has it helped the sport in countries where baseball is far from a national pastime? Well, the Netherlands reached the semis in 2013 and the bounty helped fund a ballpark south of Haarlem. The 1,000 seat park was built to MLB specs and can be expanded to a 30,000 capacity should they attract an MLB game. In the UK, Great Britain made their first appearance in 2023 and their relative success – they won a game in the group stage – helped generate publicity in the UK, just as Europe’s largest indoor baseball facility opened its doors in London. Having said that, while other growth spurts can be found peppered around far-flung baseball federations, a quantum leap in newer markets is still on baseball’s wishlist and the WBC alone probably won’t make it happen.
There are also a few issues with the tournament itself. There’s still a huge talent gap between the best and worst teams, and group-stage blowouts are common – South Korea were 22-2 up against China by the fifth inning at the last edition. There’s also a lack of African presence at the tournament; and, as always, the timing of the WBC is a source for debate. Players are still in the early stages of ramping up for their domestic regular seasons, meaning arms are building strength and hitting rhythms are off. Potential solutions are tricky. You can’t stage the tournament immediately after the World Series, because that would undermine MLB’s crown jewel. What about mid-season? Well, MLB seems to be inching closer to allowing its players to compete at the 2028 Olympics, during an extended All-Star break. Such a precedent could open the door to a hockey-style break to the MLB season of about three weeks in WBC years. That would alleviate the concerns of pitchers like Tarik Skubal, who will disappointingly appear in just one game at the WBC because his arm just isn’t ready this early in the year.
And yes, injury concerns always cast a long shadow. Who could forget Jose Altuve missing 43 MLB games after being beaned at the 2023 tournament, or Edwin Diaz missing an entire season for the Mets after blowing out his achilles while celebrating a monumental win for Puerto Rico. And speaking of PR, there’s the insurance wrinkle that’s keeping Carlos Correa off the team. The oft-injured slugger could not get coverage and politely declined a policy that Bad Bunny helped organize from a non-MLB sanctioned insurer. Similar issues kept Clayton Kershaw and Miguel Cabrera off rosters three years ago, while Altuve won’t play this time around.
Altuve’s countrymen won’t be flying in either: Venezuelans wishing to see their team are out of luck as the country is on Donald Trump’s 40-nation naughty list. Cuba is as well, and while the communist nation has never had traveling fans at the WBC, some of their party, inclduing pitching coach Pedro Luis Lazo Iglesias, have been denied entry, because, hey, who needs a pitching coach?
This all comes ahead of this summer’s football World Cup, when millions of fans will travel to the US, with many of them worried about whether their visas will be issued on time. The WBC will attract far fewer fans, but it may offer a preview of how easy it is to travel to the US to watch the World Cup.
And how about this tournament? Well, the US hasn’t been overwhelmed by pre-WBC chatter, but then again, it’s the kind of event that doesn’t really resonate until the games begin. Once they do, things can catch fire quickly, with an addictive atmosphere and a wave of stars – Ohtani, Soto, Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Paul Skenes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr are just a few of the MLB stars suiting up. When you’re putting that kind of quality on a diamond, off the back of the most watched World Series in decades, there’s every expectation that the event can feed baseball’s momentum that kicked in last October, completing the WBC’s journey from bupkis to blockbuster.
