Countries Where Baseball is the Most Popular Sport

Name the eight countries of the world in which baseball is the most popular spectator or participatory sport.
Based on a quiz by Gassu
Source: Wikipedia articles of the individual countries
Quiz by joez
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Last updated: May 2, 2020
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First submittedJuly 16, 2018
Times taken35,253
Average score75.0%
Rating4.28
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Hint
Country
Americas
Cuba
Americas
Dominican Republic
Asia
Japan
Americas
Nicaragua
Americas
Panama
Asia
South Korea
Asia
Taiwan
Americas
Venezuela
+4
Level 56
Jul 16, 2018
um.. how about the untied states??
+14
Level 28
Jul 16, 2018
Basketball.
+70
Level 72
Jul 16, 2018
According to the source, it is (American) Football.
+13
Level 82
Jul 27, 2018
And yet whenever there's a question about baseball people still complain about this having no application to people outside the USA. Baseball is in 3rd place there.
+14
Level 76
May 3, 2020
Still, although this quiz proves it has international appeal, there are countries where baseball is far less popular to the extent of being almost unknown. All I know about baseball is that it involves hitting a ball with a bat. I don't know any of the rules, teams, players, etc. I don't think I've even seen a baseball bat except on the internet. Not a reason to complain about any quizzes, but I get why many people think it's an American thing.
+7
Level 82
May 19, 2020
just like any other sport, then? I mean, even football (soccer), which is played pretty much the world over to some extent, is not very popular in places like the USA, China, India, Japan, Australia, and Canada, compared to other sports like cricket, basketball, baseball, American football, and ice hockey. Those first four countries are a huge chunk of the world's total population, and the first country and last two represent a pretty big chunk of the visitors to this website.

So.... whining about a baseball question... when you don't whine just as much about football questions... is hypocritical and chauvinistic, while at the same time probably revealing some prejudice against sports of places you don't like. (and this particular whine reveals some ignorance as whining that baseball is purely an American thing isn't even accurate as it's not the most popular sport there anymore, even while it is extremely popular elsewhere.)

+3
Level 82
May 19, 2020
I don't like sports generally, so, I'm usually clueless about all of them about equally. But I don't complain about the quizzes, unless it's just to playfully mock my own ignorance and inability to score well compared to others.
+22
Level 70
May 19, 2020
kalbahamut, actually, football (soccer) is very popular in those countries, its just not the most popular sport. In Australia (where I'm from) it is the most popular team sport in terms of participants. The J-League in Japan has extremely high attendance and Japan have done very well in World Cups recently. In India it is really weird because although it is really popular, and the two main indian leagues are near the highest attended in the world, they are still terrible in terms of even other Asian countries. China is a sleeping football giant, and Xi Jingping made it almost compulsory for all kids to play it at some point as school because he wants China to be much better at it (and the Chinese league are poaching players from Europe). And in the USA, it may not be as big as the big 4 sports, but it is very much 5th and the MLS is growing every season. After the 2026 WC I think soccer in the USA will reach one of if not the most popular sport there, especially if the MLS keeps growin
+8
Level 56
May 19, 2020
I mean most of those countries you know Soccer/Football is still hugely popular. Soccer for example. It is still the most played sport in Canada and Canada is even going to co-host the FIFA World Cup with the US and Mexico. Also, women's football is bigger in some countries than the sport is for mens. China has a major influx of all international sports right now but it is still a well known and played game. Soccer not being popular in some countries is not the same thing as let's say Hockey, Baseball, or Basketball not being popular in some countries.
+1
Level 75
May 19, 2020
When I see a quiz about the popularity of a given sport in the US, I wonder how they compile the data. Is it only about pro sports or are semi-pro, college, and local school and city leagues included? Do they factor in the number of tickets sold, or is total income from tickets sold? Are TV ratings included for home viewing, etc. It seems to me that data could be manipulated to make just about any of the top three "the most popular" sport in America. I would think it would work the same way for other countries.
+1
Level 82
May 20, 2020
The fact that there are a large number of Indians who play soccer (kind of irrelevant, anything Indians do they do in large numbers) does not mean that the average Indian has heard of Paul Scholes any more than the average Brummie knows who Ty Cobb is. And I keep hearing that soccer is growing in popularity in the United States but honestly I still don't know any Americans who actually give a s#!@ other than a couple who only get excited when the World Cup is on and I think that's mostly an act. They couldn't actually name any top players in the Bundesliga. You're really reaching trying to prove me wrong but I think what I said is generally true.

Perhaps in the future soccer will become a universally popular sport that everyone knows detailed history and trivia about, but it currently is not. And neither is any other sport, American, English, or otherwise. Quizzes and quiz questions on any of them are equally valid, complaints about said questions are equally specious.

+3
Level 78
Sep 8, 2020
Yawn.
+7
Level 60
Apr 8, 2021
The fact is football is more world wide known than baseball.

In the countries where baseball is not among the top 3 sports people don't give a s..t about it.

It is not true with football.

The proof is in front of your eyes.

USA will host the football worldcup with Canada and Mexico.

Give me one country where baseball is not popular (as you claim football not to be in the US) who hosted the baseball world cup except maybe Italy ?

There is by the way no worldcup anymore maybe due to the lack of interest all around the world ?

Attendance of the last world cup : 2,335 per game

In the whole competition : 156,471 a.k.a one group attendance during a football worldcup

Even if you consider the World Classic, attendance of the last one 24,342 per game in countries where it is supposed to be popular, attendance in the 1994 football worldcup in the US where it is not : 68,991 per game...

But yes, I guess they are on the same level :D

+1
Level 82
Aug 1, 2022
Ecce: thanks, that comment you left was downright riveting. Not at all oblivious to the point of self-parody. I'm waiting with baited breath to see the next identical comment you leave anywhere else on the site after something I've posted.

Julo: I'm sorry you were having trouble following the point.

+40
Level 86
Jul 30, 2018
Who untied them?
+18
Level 73
Aug 10, 2018
I think it was George Washington and his gang of thugs. The world hasn't been the same since then.
+1
Level 82
Sep 30, 2018
Pining for the days of feudalism?
+2
Level 89
Sep 30, 2018
Abraham Lincoln tied them permanently.
+1
Level 67
May 19, 2020
Well, maybe not permanently...
+1
Level 71
Aug 1, 2022
I mean, I'd argue America doesn't have a most popular sport. Shooting from the hip, I'd guess football is slightly ahead of the rest, but only slightly. Basketball and baseball are also very popular, and while the US isn't a soccer powerhouse (for men's soccer anyways), it's still quite popular and arguably has gained popularity in the last few decades. Hockey also deserves a mention. America is unique in that there's no one dominant sport, unlike some other countries (India, for example, is dominated by cricket).
+1
Level 71
Aug 1, 2022
It depends on what you mean by "most popular": you can define it different ways. It depends on the definition and the context. For example, do we mean viewership of professional sports? If so, American football takes the cake in the U.S. But the most well-attended single sporting event is the Indianapolis 500--does that make Indy car racing the most popular sport? How about motorsports in general?NASCAR is tremendously popular in terms of both viewership and attendance.

Does it mean what sport people play? Bicycling is by far the most popular in the U.S., followed by baseball, basketball, soccer and even golf before any form of American football (and it's flag/touch football at that).

If you take into account all of participation, live event attendance and pro league viewership, I bet it's soccer. But it could be basketball or baseball.

+1
Level 67
Aug 1, 2022
I hear that Nascar thing a lot, but a Nascar race on a given day is the only race run, so it's not a fair comparison. If you add up all the fans in football stadiums on a given Sunday, it's a lot more than fill up the Indy 500. Same for TV. The Daytona 500 is the only race on. But you add up the viewers watching 16 football games and compare them, it's not even close. Football is the most popular sport in the US by a wide margin. It's played by fewer people both because it's dangerous and it's tough to get a decent game together. The advantage of soccer and basketball is you just need four people and a ball, then it's off to the park for a game. But in terms of which sport the most people feel passionate about, it is football in a landslide. And I say that as someone who doesn't particularly like football. But it owns a whole day of the week (two, if you follow college ball).
+7
Level 75
Sep 30, 2018
Nori Aoki, Kendrys Morales, Yordano Ventura, Bruce Chen, Salvador Perez, Chien-Ming Wang, and Cheslor Cuthbert: the Kansas City Royals have had at least one player from each of these countries since 2014. I'm going to guess that no other team can say that. Throw in a Colombian, a Brazilian, a couple of Aussies, a Mexican, and a Mennonite, and I'm pretty sure they're unique.
+1
Level 61
Sep 30, 2018
I never knew about Taiwan. Interesting.
+2
Level 44
Sep 30, 2018
Would have thought South Korea would be on this list, too
+5
Level 81
Sep 30, 2018
I am Korean. Baseball is the most popular professional sport here, by far. Also very popular for kids to play it. Taekwoondo is more popular for kids to participate in, but baseball is the number one spectator sport.
+3
Level 82
Sep 30, 2018
I used to live in Seoul and while I did see that baseball was popular there it seemed like it was probably #3 after StarCraft and soccer. and maybe behind basketball and martial arts, too.
+14
Level 66
Sep 30, 2018
No matter how many gamers might claim otherwise, esports are not sports, so StarCraft doesn't count.
+2
Level 82
Sep 30, 2018
Whatever you say. But that doesn't change the fact that there are *far* more Koreans going to PC Bangs to spend all day playing games competitively than there are those playing baseball, and when I was there they even had a channel on TV that did nothing but broadcast matches (mostly StarCraft), some filmed in a studio with a live audience, so I would say that they easily draw more spectators, too. I also had many students who aspired to be professional StarCraft players, but none that had any interest in baseball.
+1
Level 82
Sep 30, 2018
Watching other people play games always seemed silly to me, regardless of the game being played.
+2
Level 81
Sep 30, 2018
https://www.statista.com/statistics/829536/south-korea-most-popular-sports/

KBO consistently draws the most spectators. K League is struggling to keep up their attendance. KBO players also make more.

Soccer becomes popular only when there's a big international game, especially against Japan. The national team is popular, but anywhere you go you're more likely to see baseball on the television than soccer. People who claim in surveys to "enjoy soccer" are responding to the national fervor around these international games. They're casual national team fans, rather than sports fans.

+6
Level ∞
May 2, 2020
South Korea has been added based on baseball having the highest overall and per-game attendance of any sport in South Korea. Thank you!
+2
Level 81
May 2, 2020
KBO is back playing, I think it's one of the first major professional leagues to go back since the start of the COVID pandemic. That's how seriously Korea takes baseball.

Taiwan's baseball came back earlier.

+1
Level 44
Sep 30, 2018
Surprised at no USA and Canada, Japan too... I think I pictured them being more into athletics or tennis. Today I learned... ;)
+3
Level 21
Sep 30, 2018
Japan is there.
+12
Level 75
Sep 30, 2018
Canada??? Hockey is the number 1 spectator and participatory sport here.
+2
Level 67
Oct 1, 2018
Canada would have more than just one MLB team if it was more popular.
+3
Level 70
May 2, 2020
Yes, hockey is king here. There are other popular sports but baseball doesn't come close.
+2
Level 82
May 19, 2020
Ice hockey is way more popular in Canada than baseball. In the USA, (American) football is a much bigger deal than baseball at least in terms of ratings and revenue. In terms of sports that Americans actually play I think basketball, bowling, or swimming is #1. Baseball was called America's national pasttime, but that was a long time ago. Back in the mid-19th century, originally.
+1
Level 67
May 19, 2020
I would imagine it has to be basketball, just because it's so easy to play. You get a ball and one friend and you can go to the park for one-on-one. Baseball is such a pain to play because you need to round up at least 12 people, find a field, and get all the equipment. Basketball courts are ubiquitous (and much less expensive to maintain), which I think is part of why the sport is so popular in low-income areas. I suspect that's why soccer is so popular all over the world too. You get a ball, an open space, a few garbage cans for goal posts, and you've got a game.
+1
Level 75
May 19, 2020
I used to play forms of baseball or softball with my three kids in our front yard - hit the bat, work-up, etc. And they often played catch with their dad after work. Those should count as much as a couple of kids shooting baskets or playing HORSE. (Which ours did, too.) I think hit the bat is a great game for young ones - when someone hits the ball, they lay the bat down and whoever chases down the ball first rolls it toward the bat from where they stopped the ball. If they hit the bat, they become the batter. Anyone who catches a fly automatically becomes the batter. That game can be played with as few as two players.
+1
Level 78
May 19, 2020
Do you mean mid-20th century?
+1
Level 82
May 20, 2020
jmellor: agree with what you said in spirit... though... when my dad was growing up a lot of kids would play some version of baseball, or stickball, with a ball, a stick to hit it with, 4 rocks to mark the bases, and 4-5 friends to pitch and field. You could make do if you really wanted to.

ander: yeah, what she said.

camus: no. The term was originally coined in 1856. People still use it today, though, even if it's not really accurate anymore. It started to become less accurate in the mid-to-late-20th century.

+1
Level 62
May 19, 2020
Try The Cricket Version of this quiz