Baseball Goes Global in 2026
Baseball Is Back: 2026 Is Going Global
Baseball is officially back! And the 2026 baseball calendar is starting off with a bang!
With Spring Training fully underway in Arizona & Florida, Opening Day hits March 26 on NBC and Peacock, with the Pirates facing the Mets in the afternoon and the defending champion Dodgers playing that night. Sunday Night Baseball is back in primetime this season, too, with matchups like Yankees–Red Sox, Cubs–Cardinals, Padres–Dodgers.
But before the regular season even fully settles in, the sport goes international...
The 2026 World Baseball Classic
The World Baseball Classic runs March 5–17, with games in Tokyo, Houston, San Juan, and Miami (which hosts the semifinals and final).
There are 20 teams split into four pools, and the top two in each advance to a knockout bracket. Japan won it all in 2023 behind Shohei Ohtani, and he’s back again this year. Team USA is stacked with Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper, Paul Skenes, and more. The Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.
Tokyo Giant: The Legend of Victor Starffin
Long before the WBC, Japan had its own baseball legend with an international story.
Tokyo Giant: The Legend of Victor Starffin tells the story of Victor Starffin, who fled the Russian Revolution as a child and resettled in Japan. He grew up to become one of the biggest stars in Japanese baseball history, the first professional pitcher there to reach 300 wins.
But his story isn’t just about stats.
Starffin battled poverty, xenophobia, shifting national identities, and even World War II while trying to build a career in a country that sometimes viewed him as an outsider. The film is told through the eyes of his two daughters, who take us through a life full of international rivalries, complicated identity, and one unbelievable fastball.
Watching the WBC in Tokyo this year, it’s hard not to think about him; it is a reminder that baseball’s international story runs deep.
Aunt Mary: Baseball Closer to Home
If Tokyo Giant shows baseball on a global stage, Aunt Mary shows what it can do at the neighborhood level.
Airing in full on our Multicom YouTube channel, Fam Brand, the film tells the true story of Mary Dobkin, played by Jean Stapleton. When professional baseball arrives in Baltimore, Mary becomes inspired to help the kids in her neighborhood who are drifting toward delinquency and crime. She starts her own team to give them structure, purpose, and a sense of belonging.
Her roster is racially integrated, and not everyone in the city approves, but Mary pushes forward anyway.
It’s a story about baseball as community, baseball as resistance, baseball as second chances. The scale is smaller than the WBC, but the stakes feel just as big.
Why 2026 Feels Different
Between Opening Day, expanded NBC coverage, Sunday Night Baseball in primetime, and the World Baseball Classic, which pulls the sport onto a global stage, 2026 feels bigger than ever.
While you watch these amazing games, please revisit the deeper stories, such as Starffin navigating identity across borders or Mary Dobkin building something powerful in her own backyard.
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