Personally, as a soccer fan, I haven’t ever really paid much attention to baseball. The long innings and lack of action just couldn’t compare to the thrill of soccer. It just never interested me. But recently, it has made a resurgence that has caught my attention.
Tuesday night in Miami, Florida, the United States played Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic Championship. This was the first ever baseball game I had turned on to watch, so naturally, I thought that the United States would win easily since it’s an American sport.
That wasn’t the case.
In a low-scoring game, Venezuela came out on top, beating the United States 3-2. To confirm my suspicions, the majority of this game was relatively uneventful. Venezuela led the game with a run in the third and fifth innings. It wasn’t until eight innings, when an untimely pitch sent American Bobby Whitt Jr. to 1st base, that the game really started to get intense. In a pure bout of emotion, USA’s Bryce Harper rocketed a ball over the center field wall. He then flipped his bat equally as high into the air. The stands erupted. American flags soared.
The game was tied 2-2.
But the elation for the Americans was short-lived.
Eugenio Suárez, 3rd baseman for the Venezuelans, came through on the plate, hitting a crucial RBI to give them the lead. And after a disappointing inning by the Americans, Venezuelan pitcher Daniel Palencia threw the game-ending pitch. Venezuela had done the improbable, the impossible; they had won.
The scenes after the game were my favorite. It was Venezuela’s first championship, and they did it on American soil.
I think this is a great thing, because it expanded the world of baseball. Even for me, an American, I don’t really enjoy or interact with the sport. But after seeing this, I think I’ll start to indulge in it more. I think it’s also good for the league. In soccer, for example, you have all types of international stars that bring more eyes and money to these leagues. That gets people from their countries watching and supporting the sport, causing more young kids to play.
In this country’s political climate, I think it’s important that we separate politics from sports. And we all come together to enjoy something, which in turn can help with more conflicts.
One thing that has always made me kind of not want to watch baseball is the fact that the games seemed long and boring to me. In reality, it was because I didn’t fully understand the sport; I could never get interested. But because of an international game, it means something. I was drawn to it for a different reason. And because of this game, I understand the hype of baseball.
In soccer, international tournaments and games mean so much to the fans. It’s a joy to see your country do well, and even when they lose, you feel a part of something. Because at the end of the day these players represent you. Same for baseball — the celebrations of the Venezuelan fans in the stadium and on social media are a warming thing to see. And great for the sport moving forward.
It even helps the sports’ biggest stars. Even though I am not too involved with the baseball world, I can feel the love fans have for players like Shohei Ohtani. All over social media everybody loves this guy and the sport in Japan is blooming more than ever because of the success of one man.
This singular game to me was important for baseball. If baseball can become a sport like soccer where it becomes globally popular, more eyes will be turned to the MLB, and we can possibly see other leagues in different countries grow and make the sport even bigger.
