MIAMI — Having set attendance and viewership records, the World Baseball Classic will return in 2029 or 2030.
By that time, it may have moved to Major League Baseball’s midseason, when clubs would be less likely to restrict players.
Since the WBC’s inception in 2006, it has been played during spring training. Tournament rules include pitch-count restrictions, and MLB clubs can demand tougher limits or deny players permission to participate with their national teams.
“Obviously we have commitments to Fox in terms of the All-Star Game in the middle of the season through ’28,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday during an interview with The Associated Press. “As the game continues to evolve, we have talked about midseason tournaments in general. And certainly if we decided to get serious about this, about a midseason tournament, this would be an ideal opportunity.”
This year’s 20-team WBC drew 1,619,839 fans for 47 games, a 24% increase over the previous high of 1,306,414 in 2023. The initial tournament in 2006 drew 740,451 for 39 games.
The most-watched 2006 matchup was Mexico’s second-round win over the United States at 2.46 million on ESPN. This year’s most-viewed game through Sunday was the Americans’ semifinal victory over the Dominican Republic at 7.37 million on FS1 and Spanish-language Fox Deportes. That topped the previous high of 5.4 million for the 2023 final on FS1, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming services.
Tuesday’s final, in which Venezuela beat the U.S. 3-2, was seen by 10,784,000 viewers. The game drew an average of 10,228,000 viewers on Fox, the network said Thursday, which more than double the 4.48 million on FS1 for the 2023 final and higher than each of the first four games of the 2023 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.
The WBC averaged 1,294,000 for its games on Fox, FS1 and FS2, double the 506,000 for the 2023 tournament.
“There’s no resemblance to where we started in 2006,” said Manfred, who been a full-time member of MLB’s executive staff since 1998 and has held his current position since 2015. “This one, I feel like it went to a different level. We set an attendance record after the early play. By the time we got into the semis and the final, it was all gravy.”
This year’s WBC was the sixth edition of the tournament and first since 2023. That year’s title game provided a seminal moment for the event and baseball as a whole when Japan sealed its 3-2 win against the U.S. as Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout — the two were MLB teammates with the Los Angeles Angels at the time — for the last out.
A sport that emerged in the U.S. in the 19th century took until the 21st century to establish a truly global competition, something soccer did long ago with the FIFA World Cup.
“The WBC is kind of a springboard for the rest of our international efforts,” Manfred said. “It gives you kind of a cornerstone to work from in terms of making long-term business relationships with sponsors, broadcasters and whatnot.”
Fans from baseball-mad countries such as the Dominican Republic, Japan and Venezuela have watched the tourney closely since its inception. Japan has three WBC titles (2006, ’09, ’23), with the other championships won by the Dominican Republic (2013), the U.S. (2017) and Venezuela.
The title game has been played in the U.S. in every edition of the WBC to date.
The Americans failed to advance from the group stage in both 2006 and 2013, but they finished fourth in 2009 and have reached three straight finals. They came up short of the title again this year despite bringing a roster stocked with MLB All-Stars and led by Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper and Paul Skenes.
Judge was appointed U.S. captain last April, and the commitment of the three-time American League MVP for the New York Yankees sparked other top players to join. He called the WBC crowds — the Americans played their group-stage games and quarterfinal at Houston’s Daikin Park before moving on to Miami — “bigger and better than the World Series.”
The uptick wasn’t only for the in-person crowds. Italy’s run to the semifinals this year awakened baseball interest in a soccer-crazed country, even though games started in the middle of the night.
“I just told the guys that they are the champions of this tournament,” Italy manager Francisco Cervelli said after the Azzurri were eliminated by Venezuela in a semifinal Monday night at Miami’s LoanDepot Park, which also hosted the title game. “They revolutionized Italy. They put another sport on the map.”
A midseason tournament likely would lead to fewer stars declining or being held back. Two-time AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal agreed with the Detroit Tigers to be limited to one appearance in this year’s WBC, and the U.S. started 24-year-old rookie Nolan McLean in the final. Venezuela rallied in the ninth inning against Garrett Whitlock to win its first title.
Closer Mason Miller was held out by U.S. manager DeRosa, who promised the San Diego Padres the 27-year-old right-hander would be used only in a save situation.
“Certainly if it was moved to the middle of the season, I don’t think you would have any nos for competing in it,” DeRosa said.
First, though, MLB and the players’ union are negotiating over having big leaguers participate in baseball’s return to the Olympics at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The Dominican Republic, the U.S. and Venezuela have already secured spots in the six-nation field for the 2028 tournament, and the midseason break for MLB’s All-Star Game would be extended if big leaguers take part in Los Angeles.
The Olympics could impact the decision on when the seventh WBC will be played.
MLB and the players’ union have matching equity shares that are the most in the WBC, with Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, the Korea Baseball Organization and the World Baseball Softball Confederation owning minority stakes.
“The issue for us is whether we do it in ’29 or in ’30, three years or four years? I’m getting a lot of email from people today saying don’t make us wait four more years for this,” Manfred said. “I do think a three- or four-year cycle is probably about right for the event.
“The timing is going to turn on what we do with respect to related sorts of international efforts. I remain optimistic about the Olympics, and obviously if we play in the Olympics, it’s a short time from July of ’28 till the spring of ’29, and that’s something we’ll have to take into account. I’m not saying it’s outcome determinative, but it’s something we’ll have to think about.”