Press release World Baseball Softball Confederation
The Under-23 Men’s National Baseball Team of Mexico captured the nation’s first-ever official baseball world championship Sunday night, defeating favourite and previously unbeaten Japan in the Final of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup® 2018, before more than 7,000 fans at Estadio Edgar Renteria in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup — the year’s top national team/international baseball competition — was broadcast live in Mexico by Claro Sports.
Social media exploded across Mexican society, with celebrities, artists, writers, musicians, politicians, major news networks, journalists, athletes and clubs from other sports, and fans liking, retweeting and/or sending celebratory tweets in response to the Mexican U-23 National Baseball Team’s historic 2-1, 10-inning victory in Barranquilla.
Mexico’s most important media outlets, including Diario Record, El Universal, ESPN Mx, Medio Tiempo, Multimedios Deportes, Televisa, and Univision, pushed news of the country’s historic win to millions of their social media followers and subscribers.
Mexican billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu tweeted, “Mexico world champions in baseball, the U-23 [National Team] defeated Japan in the final, 2-1 in 10 innings.”
Liga MX football club Tigres UANL tweeted, “We will always be proud to see Mexicans succeed and more if they are world champions.”
Footballers from the Liga MX Women also liked and/or retweeted WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup content following Mexico’s win.
Liga Mexicana de Beisbol (LMB) CEO Javier Salinas and LMB clubs praised the team and players on their historic result. The Mexican U-23 National Team under the Mexican Baseball Federation (FEMEBE) was formed by players in LMB, the country’s top-tier professional baseball league.
WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari and Barranquilla mayor Alejandro Char were both in attendance for the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup Final and tweeted their congratulations.
Among the many notable tweets, likes and retweets were those from Mexico’s National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (CONADE), popular sports journalist Ines Sainz, WWE’s Sin Cara and AC Omonia footballer and Olympic gold medallist Jorge “Chatón” Enriquez.
According to Twitter analytics, WBSC generated a 1,593.5% increase in social media impressions and a 1,795.0% increase in profile visits during the U-23 Baseball World Cup (reporting period 17-29 October).
The announcement of the final game result is also one of WBSC’s most popular posts on Facebook, having generated over 10,000 shares and 48,517 likes across all shares (at the time of writing).
It is anticipated that baseball will continue to rise in terms of popularity and talent in Mexico, with president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledging to promote the sport in the country. Mexico is currently ranked sixth in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings.