There’s something different about the lead-up to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) this year. Don’t take a writer’s word for it – the players themselves have noticed. “The hype is a little bit higher this time around,” according to Nolan Arenado, the St Louis Cardinals’ All-Star third baseman. “There’s more guys that want to [play on the US team this year].”
Arenado would know – he’s one of the few holdovers from the US team that won the previous tournament in 2017 (the 2021 edition was cancelled owing to Covid). Arenado’s teammate on the Cardinals, reigning National League MVP Paul Goldschmidt, was also on the 2017 squad. Possibly even more importantly, Goldschmidt may be one of the reasons for the increased interest in the WBC among Major League Baseball players.
“I’ve said it before, [playing in the WBC] is one of the greatest baseball experiences I’ve ever had,” Goldschmidt said in a Zoom call last month. “I was recruiting as many guys as I could to get back on the team or play in other countries because I thought it was so great.”
Increased interest from players is not the only sign that the WBC is having a moment. This year’s tournament, which begins on Wednesday when Cuba face off against the Netherlands, features an expanded field of 20 countries, which accounts for the presence of teams such as Great Britain and the Czech Republic. And, for the first time since the 2009 edition, fans in the US can watch English-language coverage of the WBC on network television, rather than the less widely available MLB Network. Such increases in visibility seem long overdue.
Despite its status as America’s pastime, baseball is an undeniably global sport in a similar vein to cricket and rugby, both of which are widely seen to be “international” in nature compared to baseball. (Cricket’s predominance in populous countries such as India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, however, means that it still dwarves both baseball and rugby in terms of absolute number of fans). Baseball is the national sport of Japan, Cuba and the Dominican Republic (among others) and is popular in places ranging from Korea to Curacao to Mexico. Yet, while the Rugby and Cricket World Cups have long been viewed as major international events, the WBC has always been a relative minnow.
Founded in 2006, the WBC is younger than YouTube, and, 17 years into its existence, the competition only now seems to be…