Is Baseball Popular Outside the US

Sports fans in each corner of the world differ from one another. Some prefer basketball while others will only watch tennis. However, there are many similarities between sports fans from around the world as well, regardless of the sport that they like. For example, many sports fans will visit Fun88 รหัสคูปอง or other similar websites to place a wager on their favorite team or player. For many sports fans, betting on the sport they like is more than an opportunity to win a prize. It’s also a way to show support in the team or player that they like.

In many cases, the popularity of one sport among the general population is usually connected with the nation they belong to. Although we can see the never-ending obsession with soccer amongst Italian and English sports fans, a great number of US sports enthusiasts are fascinated by American football and baseball. But that doesn’t mean these sports are only popular in these countries. In this article, we’ll take a look at all the countries, besides the US, where baseball is also popular. 

Japan

One of the countries that have a very strong baseball scene is Japan. Their most popular league is the Nippon Professional Baseball, which is made of two other leagues – The pacific and the Central League. Japan’s interest in baseball isn’t anything new. The Nippon Professional Baseball was founded in 1950, and it has given birth to many baseball superstar talents like Sadaharu Oh who hit over 850 home runs. Other famous names in the world of Japanese baseball leagues are Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, as well as Shohei Ohtani, who is known for his contribution to the Angels team. Ohtani is both a hitter and a pitcher, and he’s one of the most famous players from Japan. 

South Korea

Another country that’s responsible for discovering many players that now play in the Majors is South Korea. Their KBO league was founded in 1981, but the first games were held in 1982. The KBO’s Hanwha Eagles saw great talent in Hyun-Jin Ryu who played seven seasons for that team before joining the Dodgers in 2013. The same year that he went to play in Los Angeles, he ended up in fourth place for the prize Rookie of the Year. In 2017 he suffered an injury, but he came back stronger than ever in 2018.

Cuba

Founded in 1961, the Cuban National Series became one of the most interesting baseball events in the world. And even though not all Cuban players ended up playing in the Majors, all of those who participated in the Cuban National Series are talents worthy of everyone’s attention. It’s a fun fact that over 15 players that played in this league joined the Majors in 2019. Some of the most known are Yasiel Puig, Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Abreu, and Aroldis Chapman. However, the legend of the Cuban National Series, Lourdes Gourriel, never joined the Majors, but two of his sons did – Yuli Gurriel and Lourdes Gurriel Jr.