The World Baseball Classic experience was already a major success; now the U.S. has bought in too
The WBC has come so far since its initial offering in 2006
Remember all the way back in 2005 when there was talk of an international baseball tournament that would take place in spring training? It was proposed by the MLB Players Association and officially announced by then-commissioner Bud Selig.
I can't speak for everyone, but here among Major League Baseball fans in the United States of America, there was a general vibe that this was a gimmick or even kind of a joke. Many fans were insistent that they didn't want players from their favorite team taking part in the event out of fear that it would hurt their team's chances in the regular season. It's emotional nonsense that isn't grounded in any reality, but that's how fans in the collective are (NOTE: I'm not excluding myself; I'm an emotional fan, too).
The results, in terms of attendance and ratings, were good enough in the first year to keep it going. This thing was never a failure. Never even close. It's just that it always felt like countries outside the USA cared far more than we did. Watch the games in other countries and even those stateside between non-American teams. The fans go nuts. They have since the advent of the WBC.
It took more time to get a foothold in the consciousness of MLB fans in America. I believe there's an easy explanation for that. Major League Baseball is played here and most of the very best players in the world come here to play it in front of us. We get to see it up close a lot. Maybe we've taken it for granted too much. The most extreme example: Think about how rare it is for Japanese fans to see Shohei Ohtani in person now.
The bottom line here is that this event was always popular in many other countries. It just took a bit to catch up here.
There has been steady momentum, though, and here in 2026, I think it's fair to say the event has arrived in the consciousness of American sports fans and MLB die-hards alike. This is the 20th anniversary and the event has been an overwhelming success. It's here to stay.
USA played non-powerhouses Brazil and Great Britain last Friday night and Saturday, respectively, to start things off. The Friday bout against Brazil was the most-watched sporting event of the day despite going against plenty of NBA and college basketball. The game vs. Britain on Saturday drew 2.98 million viewers, making it the most-watched non-final WBC broadcast ever. This was USA vs. Great Britain in baseball and it was the second game of pool play.
There has always been star power in this event. Derek Jeter, Chipper Jones and Roger Clemens were on the first USA team back in 2006. Yet we always saw some of the biggest stars decline to play. This year, nearly all the big names are on the field.
Just a quick perusal of last season's awards voting is an illustration. Five of the top six in American League MVP voting are playing in the WBC (Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh, Bobby Witt Jr., Tarik Skubal and Julio Rodríguez). The top three on the National League side are as well (Ohtani, Kyle Schwarber and Juan Soto). Both Cy Young winners are taking part (Skubal and Paul Skenes) and in NL Cy Young voting, the top four are all WBC players (Skenes, Cristopher Sánchez, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Logan Webb).
The players are doing their part on the field, too. The level of play has to be high for fans to tune in with excitement and it is. Plus, watch the reactions of players on big hits. Look how much they care.
This is Junior Caminero with a home run for the Dominican Republic against Nicaragua in pool play. Would you see this in the sixth inning in a regular-season MLB game?
Apply a similar sentiment to Gunnar Henderson here on a two-RBI single in the fifth inning. He's way fired up.
That's in the fifth inning in pool play against Great Britain. Look at that emotion.
I couldn't help but think back to spring training in 2023 when a player on a perennial playoff team was discussing the WBC with a few reporters. He was adamant that players would have more innate fire when playing for their country than when playing for a paycheck.
It makes sense. Even if you play hard in regular-season games, it's still for a job. There are 162 of those things, too. It can be a slog. This competition means you wear a uniform with your home country on it. Players feel like they are representing their entire country and get overly fired up when they come through in a big way.
You know what has perhaps been the best barometer to measure how much this event has seeped into our sports consciousness in this country now? Outrage.
USA lost to Italy earlier this week in a shocking upset. Italy would go on to crush Mexico and win Pool B, while Team USA snuck into the quarterfinals thanks to tiebreaker scenarios. Still, as it was unfolding, MLB fans were going crazy about the lineup (Paul Goldschmidt over Bryce Harper in 2026? Really?). It didn't help that manager Mark DeRosa had gone on MLB Network and said that Team USA had already punched a ticket to the quarterfinals. That wasn't true, of course (he later claimed that he "misspoke"). People were, correctly, up in arms. How could the manager for this event not even know the rules?
The topic hasn't died down, despite the fact that USA did, in fact, advance. DeRosa was still trying to explain himself Thursday afternoon, claiming it was "just an overly confident statement."
I can't prove it, but I don't feel like this level of angst happens in 2006 or 2009 or even 2017. This kind of question-and-answer, along with fans trying to figure out how much DeRosa is telling the truth, only happens when there is passion involved.
The WBC has fully arrived as a player in the minds of USA sports fans.
As we head toward the quarterfinals, expect to see a lot more fireworks. More people than usual will be watching here in the U.S. and we'll be watching the most star-studded roster Team USA has ever fielded.
This event caught on really quickly, even if the largest potential audience was the one that took the longest to come around. It's happening now, though, and the World Baseball Classic -- on its 20-year anniversary -- is an overwhelming success.
