The early viewership numbers for the World Baseball Classic are turning heads, and it’s easy to see why. Team USA's 2026 lineup is dazzling fans with a level of talent that rivals anything we saw on MLB fields last year.
Fox's broadcasts of the U.S. matchups against Brazil and Great Britain drew impressive audiences, with 2.64 million and 2.98 million viewers respectively. To put that in perspective, these games would have ranked second and fourth among all regular season games in 2025, according to Sports Media Watch.
The only game to surpass the U.S.-Great Britain viewership was the storied Yankees-Red Sox clash on June 7, 2025, which attracted 3.0 million viewers. Even a World Series rematch between the Yankees and Dodgers on June 1, 2025, pulled in slightly fewer viewers, averaging 2.7 million.
As noted by SMW’s Jon Lewis, the first two rounds of the 2025 MLB postseason averaged 4.3 million viewers, with the ALCS and NLCS drawing 5.0 and 4.7 million respectively. These are the benchmarks the WBC will aim for as it advances into the knockout stages.
For now, the star-studded U.S. team, featuring heavyweights like Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, and Tarik Skubal, is captivating audiences just as expected. For the World Baseball Classic and its broadcast partners, this is a promising kickoff.