Baseball is America\u2019s sport. At least, it used to be.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no secret that Major League Baseball is fueled by international talent and fans. Some of the best players were born internationally: Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa, David Ortiz\u00a0and\u00a0Ichiro Suzuki. International fans are also heavily invested in the sport. For example, after Japan-born superstar Shohei Ohtani signed his historic $700 million contract\u00a0with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023, the team exceeded four million fans\u00a0in attendance for the first time in its history. LA Tourism estimated that in 2024, 80%\u201390% of Japanese tourists to the city went to Dodger Stadium\u00a0at least once.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no accident that international players bring in huge audiences, with people across the world tuning in. It\u2019s also no accident that the rise of international baseball coincided with American interventionism. For example, the Dominican Republic, the country most represented on 2025 MLB Opening Day\u00a0outside of the United States, began playing baseball in earnest after President Woodrow Wilson ordered delegate James Mark Sullivan to\u00a0\u201cteach Dominicans democracy.\u201d\u00a0U.S. military teams played against Dominican teams partially in an effort to reinforce American values rather than revolutionary ideology. Now, baseball is a billion-dollar industry\u00a0for the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n
International fanbases were first addressed directly by MLB in the 1990s, when the league began organizing games at international stadiums. MLB has also negotiated TV deals with international companies\u00a0so fans can follow their players in the league, sometimes literally \u2014 Japanese broadcasts of Dodger games have cameras that track\u00a0every move\u00a0Ohtani makes. The most recognizable example of MLB\u2019s globalization efforts is the World Baseball Classic. Started in 2006, the WBC invites qualifying countries across the globe to compete for the title, and every year, millions tune in to watch.<\/p>\n
While professional baseball leagues from multiple countries sponsor the tournament, it is still largely an American endeavor. MLB\u00a0organizes the event, and as a baseball fan, I can confirm that America is often the presumed center of baseball. International players dream of signing in the United States because that is where the money\u00a0is. As such, there is a prevailing belief in American dominance in the WBC.\u00a0That belief is unfounded. Team USA has only won the tournament once. This year, we saw on the world stage how this hubris \u2014 the belief that America would presumably \u2018win it all\u2019 \u2014 led to events I would only describe as embarrassing.<\/p>\n
In the first round of the 2026 tournament, Team USA\u00a0beat Mexico for the first time\u00a0since 2006. The team spent the night celebrating in the locker room, reportedly talking and drinking until past midnight. The next morning, team manager Mike DeRosa incorrectly stated that Team USA would advance\u00a0to\u00a0the next round and joked that the team was\u00a0\u2018dragging\u2019\u00a0because of the previous night\u2019s partying. During that night\u2019s game against Italy, DeRosa chose to bench\u00a0many of the team\u2019s best hitters, resulting in a loss. Suddenly, the U.S. was at the mercy of the result of Italy vs. Mexico, a game previously deemed so unimportant that it was supposed to air on Tubi.\u00a0On the day of the game, it was announced that Fox Sports 1 would take over the broadcast.<\/p>\n
Other controversies included Tarik Skubal, arguably the best pitcher in MLB, being called unpatriotic for leaving the team\u00a0after only one appearance, and the entire team\u00a0being perceived as ambivalent\u00a0toward the tournament. My personal favorite of these controversies was when Robert J. O\u2019Neill\u00a0\u2014 one of the members of SEAL Team Six that killed Osama bin Laden \u2014 gave a speech to the team before its game against the Dominican Republic. Yes, you read that right. And, of course, Team USA lost\u00a0in the final round to Venezuela.<\/p>\n
On a\u00a0broader level, MLB and the WBC attempted to limit political commentary\u00a0and focus on baseball. But politics cannot be separated from any aspect of life. If the spread of baseball is tied to political intervention, then the entire game is informed by politics. This was especially evident in Team Venezuela.<\/p>\n
Team Venezuela played many of its games in the United States, a country that had just invaded its\u00a0country and captured its\u00a0president\u00a0in an\u00a0illegal international act. While some Venezuelans have reported positive reactions to\u00a0the intervention, the U.S. has made no moves to promote democracy\u00a0in the region, one of its stated justifications. Players and coaches on the Venezuelan team have refused to discuss\u00a0geopolitical\u00a0developments. But politics found them anyway. The day before the final game, President Donald Trump posted that Venezuela should become America\u2019s 51st state. He reiterated\u00a0the statement after Venezuela won, calling for \u201cSTATEHOOD!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
As someone who cares deeply about baseball and politics, this World Baseball Classic was difficult to watch. At many points, I was ashamed of Team USA, both its performance on the field and its off-field statements. Much of the patriotism (if you can call it that) the team exhibited\u00a0was tied to American militarism, which sets a horrible\u00a0precedent for what being American means on an\u00a0international stage.<\/p>\n
International sporting events like the WBC can foster cross-cultural connection, international cooperation and patriotism, but only if we allow them to. In a hostile political climate shaped by the United States\u2019 escalating military threats across the globe, the WBC risks becoming a tournament that highlights hubris instead of player excellence. We must recognize that sports and politics are interconnected\u00a0and we must thoughtfully deal with the complications that come with that relationship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baseball is America\u2019s sport. At least, it used to be. It\u2019s no secret that Major League Baseball is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-557052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}