by Baseball has been on a steady decline in terms of popularity in recent years, with a low amount of engagement from the younger generations. The viewership of the World Series has decreased every year since 2016. In fact, the three World Series’ with the lowest average viewership in history are from 2020, 2021, and 2022. This is a problem, a major problem. The sport cannot afford to have record-low viewership year in and year out, especially if the younger audience remains unengaged.
However, this spring has brought forth newfound excitement for the game with the 2023 World Baseball Classic. For starters, you have an array of star MLB players including Mike Trout himself say that winning the WBC is more important to him than winning the world series. Every single game in this tournament has brought out emotions that have been lacking in baseball in recent memory. Look no further than the thrilling finish to last night’s semifinal game between Japan and Mexico. Despite trailing 5-3 in the 8th and 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th, Japan continued their remarkable tournament with a 9th inning rally spearheaded by Shohei Ohtani and Masataka Yoshida, Japanese phenoms who both are on MLB teams.
Japan walks it off vs Mexico in the semifinal of the World Baseball Classic.
Canon c70 in 4k 120, 16-35mm f2.5 @MLB
One of my favorite shots I’ve ever gotten pic.twitter.com/J9GFy3Z5o2
— Pete Gottschalk (@SimplyPG13) March 21, 2023
The perception of the WBC hasn’t always been this peachy. Just last week, people blamed the tournament for Edwin Díaz’s freak injury during Puerto Rico’s celebration of their 5-2 victory over the Dominican Republic. After this injury, some fans (mostly Mets fans) continuously trashed the tournament, calling it ‘meaningless’. A Barstool Sports media personality went on a massive tirade, tweeting upwards of 50 times affirming how meaningless the tournament is.
I literally hope every single one of these WBC losers has a player on their MLB team get injured tmrw. I hope there’s 29 injured stars and you all have to defend your stupid worthless fake takes about a tournament that’s fun for 5 seconds before it’s completely forgotten. Asinine
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) March 16, 2023
This tweet itself is a fireable offense, but he didn’t stop there. He went after any individual on twitter who opposed his viewpoint. What doesn’t help KFC’s case is that he admitted to cheating on his pregnant wife. This gave fans an easy gateway to clap back at the bigoted Barstool personality. At the end of the day, his opinion matters the least out of anybody considering he can’t escape the bubble that he lives in, where America is the center of the universe and no other nations matter.
But hey, three days of the WBC go by and his viewpoint is completely altered. After Trea Turner’s go-ahead grand slam in the 8th inning against Venezuela, KFC realized how stupid and arrogant he sounded and completely switched his stance. That grand slam was just one of several highlights throughout the tournament that signified a strong level of excitement and engagement within the sport.
OK, I concede. WBC has been awesome & the players like it so much. Just sucks its once every 4 yrs. We should put all these players into one pool together, draft a bunch of teams & have them compete in another tournament of sorts. Except more games & do it every year. Would be 🔥
— KFC (@KFCBarstool) March 19, 2023
This will be undoubtedly the most viewed baseball game the world has seen in decades. Here is a perspective on why this will be the most watched baseball event in a long time.
- Japan vs Orix Buffalos was watched by 36 million people in Japan
- Japan vs Korea 55+ million
- Japan vs Italy 62.5 million
- Most watched World Series game: 54.5 million in 1980
The fact that a Japan vs Italy game was viewed by 8 million more people than the most watched World Series game tells me that a massive number of people will be tuned in for when Japan faces off against the United States. Not only that but this marks a special matchup between the games two best players: Angels teammates Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani.
Both stars have shined in this tournament. Trout has hit .318 with a .444 on base percentage and a .591 slugging percentage in six WBC games, while Ohtani has hit .450 with a .621 OBP and .800 SLG % in the same amount of games. Ohtani said he’s expected to pitch in relief tonight, which will mark the first time the two will face each other in a game. Angels fans must be feeling good to finally see these two play in a championship game. The only downside is that it won’t happen with their own team.
Will the United States defend their 2017 crown, or will Japan pick up a WBC leading 3rd championship since the tournament’s inception?
