The 2023 World Baseball Classic has been everything MLB hoped for, and much more.
Attendance numbers have doubled the previous high in the event, Twitter has been full of reactions, likes, replies, and retweets of WBC-related content, and ratings are extremely high.
Overall, the interest in the tournament has been surprisingly high.
The tournament has been a huge hit in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Israel, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and lots of other important markets.
Journalists from every corner of the world have been covering the event, and have been amazed by how much it has grown.
The atmosphere in the crowd has been one of the most pleasant surprises.
“One Spanish journalist covering the @WBCBaseball told me, ‘This is like the World Cup.’ ‘This is like the World Cup.’ In Spain, this is not casual praise. The 2023 WBC is an inflection point for the tournament — and sport of baseball,” MLB insider Jon Morosi tweeted.
One Spanish journalist covering the @WBCBaseball told me, “This is like the World Cup.”
“This is like the World Cup.”
In Spain, this is not casual praise.
The 2023 WBC is an inflection point for the tournament—and sport of baseball. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 21, 2023
For a journalist to say that the WBC has been like the World Cup is actually high praise.
The soccer World Cup is, together with the Olympics, the most prominent sporting event in the world.
People go crazy about it.
If baseball can keep getting closer to that level of excitement, it will be in very good shape.
The 2023 WBC has been an excellent first step, because it has been nothing like the previous four editions.
Only in 2017 did we see a level of excitement remotely close to this one.
As long as major leaguers keep joining their national teams and games are played in the right markets, the tournament will be healthy.
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