An Amazing Phenomenon in Sports
Hear it here!
I believe we’re seeing an amazing phenomenon in sports right before our very eyes.
As we all know we are deluged by the long regular season schedule and then the playoffs which include so many teams, that even the post-season can lose a lot of its luster until the advanced stages.
We also know that those playing those games are paid tons of money, and while it’s romantic to think so, there is no way they are giving a peak performance every time they take the field or jog onto the court.
It’s just not possible with so many games and it’s realistically understandable.
The dollar sign rules all sports, college as well as pro, and there is no end in sight.
But there is a breath of fresh air currently in progress. And how refreshing it is.
It’s called the World Baseball Classic, and it has caught the world of sports by storm. No, it’s not the new kid on the block. It’s been around since 2006, but for some reason it has captured the sports viewing public like nothing has, well, since perhaps the very recent Olympic hockey tournaments. That’s not a long time, of course, but we may be witnessing an appreciation of American pro athletes energized as never before, playing like the kids they were when they first began competing, and performing now the same way they did then, and connecting with fans who are swept up by what they see.
There are nearly 200 players on MLB rosters, representing every major league team, including 78 former All-Stars across 20 national teams for the 2026 Classic. It is no shock that countries like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela are filled with MLB players, but you may be surprised how this Classic has appealed to so many American MLB stars. Did I mention Japan? Oh yes, I believe they have a player of note named Shohei Ohtani, considered the premier baseball player of his generation. He has led the Los Angeles Dodgers to two straight world championships, and two consecutive World Baseball Classic titles. The last one was in 2023, as the Classic is played every three years. Ohtani’s unique presence as a designated hitter and pitcher makes him the first in baseball history. Ohtani started this year’s Classic with a bang. A grand-slam home run followed by another home run against South Korea. The USA remains the favorite to win, with Japan, naturally, right there.
Again, no earth-shattering story that countries other than the US are primed for this international showdown, but to see the Americans geared in as they are is uplifting. American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal of the Tigers who just endured a difficult arbitration process originally intended to make just one start in the WBC and then return to spring training with his club.
But now it’s possible Skubal may go the distance and stay with the US team.
We were enthralled by the gold medal showing of the American men’s hockey team in the Olympics. It wasn’t only the fact they wound up on top, but the intense, emotional, and spirited style the way they played the game.
Apparently, it’s evident that playing for their country exceeded the monetary factor pros play the game.
It’s a great thing to see. We see it in the Ryder Cup every two years in golf, we even see it to an extent in the NBA All-Star Game format which emphasizes a round robin involving international stars, which had its highest TV rating since 2011.
And we will unquestionably see it when the World Cup is played this summer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. There is something special when even hardened pros are lured by performing for their country in international completion.
I go back to the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team”, rated the greatest basketball team ever assembled, and the way they dominated at the Barcelona Olympics to win the gold. That might have been the first inkling that professionals are awakened by playing for their country and not just their paycheck.
We see how world-wide competition has worked for baseball, basketball, and hockey.
What about football? We know we label the World Cup as a soccer event. But for the rest of the world it’s called football. The term soccer is never used. So what about football? As in the NFL?
The game we know has reached places like the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Ireland and Spain, as well as upcoming games in Australia and France. Mexico has also been involved and will be again next season.
When NFL teams play outside the US, the games are sold out. Having covered one, in London in 2019 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium between the Bears and the Raiders, the fans came dressed in the colors of one of the two clubs and were vociferous throughout.
NFL football will never replace the Premier League in the United Kingdom or the version of football played in most countries. But there definitely is a following. Still, it’s hard to imagine that those who play on NFL teams will ever experience what the pros in the other sports do.
It really doesn’t matter. What we have enjoyed in watching how American professional athletes have joyously, enthusiastically, and intensely conducted themselves in Olympic hockey and basketball, the upcoming World Cup show, and the World Baseball Classic in progress, has to be considered a phenomenon in our world of sports.
World Baseball Classic
The Great Ohtani
