“America’s Pastime” has long been considered baseball.  However, baseball has not been living up to that nickname.  That is, until the past couple months.  First, a historic World Series, and then an equally historic World Baseball Classic.  

Game 7 of the 2016 World Series will go down as one of the greatest games of all time.  The game started with a leadoff home run by Dexter Fowler, the first one in the history of a World Series game 7.  Then game wound up needing extra innings for just the 5th time ever in a game 7 of the World Series during which the Chicago Cubs would eventually win it.  It wasn’t just the great baseball that brought baseball back to the spotlight, it was the historical significance of the win.  The Cubs World Series win was their first one in 100 years.  These aspects combined led to the viewership of game 7 of over 40 million people.  This was the most viewed baseball game in the past 25 years, dating back to a time where baseball was by far the most popular sport in America. Game 7 was the most watched television event all year besides the Super Bowl.  The popularity of the World Series has brought baseball back to the spotlight that it had enjoyed since the early 1900’s.

The MLB took advantage of its popularity up until the World Baseball Classic, which occurred during March, 2017.  This time America enjoyed success as a country.  The first three installments of the World Baseball Classic, which is a tournament between the top baseball countries, ended with victories for Japan twice and the Dominican Republic once.  In 2017, the United States of America beat Puerto Rico in the finals for its first ever international tournament win.  This time around, the American played with a national pride.  None of the players, all who have million dollar contracts with the MLB, got paid to play, and yet they all played their hearts out every game.  A perfect example of the recent change of culture regarding baseball is Marcus Stroman’s story.   Stroman was born in America and his mom born in Puerto Rico, giving him eligibility to play for either country.  After the last World Baseball Classic in 2013, Stroman tweeted, “Hopefully have the chance to represent my mom @aya11763 and Puerto Rico in the next World Baseball Classic! That would be unreal. #latinoboy,” making it clear that if given the opportunity he would choose to play for Puerto Rico.  This year he got the opportunity to do just that, yet he decided to play for America instead.  This is because of the rapid re-growth of baseball in the past couple years.  Stroman ended up being MVP of the tournament after pitching three games including the finals where he pitched 6 shutout innings against Puerto Rico.  The World Baseball Classic showed what the World Series had previewed: Baseball is once again America’s Pastime.