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By Tyler Erzberger
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The 2023 World Baseball Classic was a massive success worldwide. It turned what many saw as a fun exhibition tournament before pro baseball began into the most prestigious global event for the sport, even surpassing the Olympics.
It wasn't a massive success in Japan, though.
It was something more.
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Over 40% of all televisions in Japan were tuned in to the 2023 final against the United States, with Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to win the tournament.
Over 50 million people watched. 75% of all sports fans in Japan woke up on a Wednesday morning to watch the game.
Given how gigantic the WBC was in Japan in 2023, the leading streaming platform, Netflix needed to get involved. Netflix reportedly spent nearly $100 million for the exclusive broadcasting rights for the tournament in Japan for the 2026 edition.
Although Japanese fans were wary because the games were now behind a paywall, the extra promotion and premium marketing of the event turned some naysayers into fans of Netflix's coverage.
But a lot of that goodwill fell to the wayside, as Japanese fans are furious that exhibition games that were easy to watch three years ago are now nowhere to be found on Japanese television or any streaming service days before the tournament begins.
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The Hanshin Tigers, one of the most popular professional baseball teams in Japan, faced off with the South Korean national team on Monday, but Japanese fans couldn't watch it. Many had to resort to using illegal streaming services or watching the Korean broadcast, which put Netflix in the crosshairs.
Last time around, many of those games were streamed on Amazon Prime, but that isn't the case anymore, with Netflix now having a monopoly on everything WBC in Japan.
While the actual tournament games will be presented and handled well by the streaming giant, that won't stop Japanese fans from reminiscing about the 2023 tournament that took over the nation for two straight weeks.
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