Think about the best player to ever play each sport: Michael Jordan in the ‘90s, Tom Brady through the 2000s and 2010s, Wayne Gretzky in the ‘80s, and Ronaldo and Messi from the 2000s to today.
Now, think of baseball. You probably thought of Babe Ruth, who played in the 1920s.
Baseball’s greatest player played 100 years ago, which means almost no one alive has seen Babe Ruth, the greatest baseball player ever, play a single game.
That conversation has changed recently with the arrival of Shohei Ohtani in 2018.
Ohtani is a dual-threat player who can pitch and hit just like Ruth. Although he’s not pitching this season due to Tommy John surgery, Ohtani has been breaking records and hitting home runs like it’s nothing.
For the first half of his career, Ohtani was with the Los Angeles Angels, who haven’t made the postseason since 2014. Now, Ohtani is signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million deal, and his popularity has skyrocketed.
This season, Ohtani became the first player in baseball history to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. Combine his amazing skills with the popularity of the Dodgers, and you have an international superstar on your hands.
The Dodgers made the World Series this season and are playing against the New York Yankees, a team with its own superstar.
The Yankees are the most iconic franchise — not only in baseball, but in all of American sports. Being named the captain of the Yankees is the highest honor for an athlete, and it has only been awarded to 16 players, the most recent being Derek Jeter in 2003.
On Dec. 21, 2022, Aaron Judge was named the newest captain of the Yankees, alongside a nine-year $360 million contract.
In the 2022 MLB season, Judge broke the American League record for the most home runs in a single season with 62. The last players we saw breaking home run records were Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds, who were all on steroids.
Judge is the only player to break a home run record without performance-enhancing drugs since Roger Maris and Babe Ruth, both of whom were also Yankees.
When asked about Ohtani, Judge told the MLB, “He’s an impressive, impressive athlete, the best player in the game, and what an ambassador for this sport.”
Players aside, just the fact that the Dodgers and Yankees are playing each other is already a big deal. These two teams are the most recognizable — and most hated — in the league, which will already drive viewership.
Game 1 of this World Series drew 15.2 million viewers, the largest for a Game 1 since 2017 and a 62 percent increase from last year’s Game 1, according to USA Today.
The 2017 World Series was between the Dodgers and Houston Astros, who were caught stealing signs in that series. It seems that controversy helps viewership, but the controversy has mostly been negative for baseball over the years .
Additionally, the 2024 MLB season recorded the largest attendance in seven years with over 71 million people — a 1 percent increase from last year’s total, according to MLB.
This increase in attendance is largely due to new rules like the pitch clock and larger bases. Since the implementation of the new rules, attendance has grown by nearly 6.8 million, marking an 11 percent increase since 2022, according to MLB.
The growth is finally starting to show for the MLB, which desperately needed it. Now, it’s up to the league to capitalize on it.