Anyone here interested in this?
The main tournament begins in March, but there are two sets of qualifying games this fall. The first of these (in Jupiter, Florida, and Regensburg, Germany) just concluded, with Spain and Canada winning advancement. The second set (in Panama and Taiwan) will be played in November.
The baseball-only board I participate in has a subset of people intensely following this; the other general board evinces none. Obviously some people have zero interest in baseball of any description ever, which is fine, but I’m curious why more casual baseball fans/general sports fans/internationalists don’t seem aroused. Plenty of people only watch soccer in the World Cup; plenty of people only watch various other sports in the Olympics.
This is a fun event.
Of course MLB fans can see the familiar game recast. If your capacity for watching baseball is greater than zero, but not sustainable for the long MLB season, I’d think it could be just the ticket. And I’d think that the principle of teams organized around national affiliations (either citizenship or heritage) would be more appealing to some than teams compiled by corporate owners who just happen to be based in this or that American city.