It has been a month since the start of the new season of Major League Baseball (MLB), and 30 teams have set off again to compete for the 120th World Series trophy.
At the same time, with Shohei Ohtani, who has a super influence in the world, lighting up the Dodgers' home court with one spring cannon after another, baseball has also blown a new wind online and offline in China, and for many whites who want to enter baseball, now may be the best time.
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Text / Li Jiajun
Editor / Guo Yang
What can Otani, who is scheduled to be the first in history, bring to baseball?
We are witnessing a legend.
Years later, when people start looking back at the entire history of professional sports and discussing how many athletes have single-handedly changed the world's understanding of a sport, Shohei Ohtani will definitely be mentioned.
Since the "arrival" of MLB Major League in 2018, Shohei Ohtani, as a "second-rate" player, has continued to shake the American baseball world through his world-class shooting and double training performances, and won the American League MVP twice in 2021 and 2023, and many fans even say that his historical status has surpassed that of the only competitor on the same track - legendary baseball superstar Babe Ruth.
After successfully closing the door in the face of the United States team in the World Classic last offseason and leading the Japanese team back to the world's No. 1 team, the 10-year 700 million contract signed with the league's powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers at the beginning of this year also made him the most influential athlete in the entire baseball world and even the entire professional sports world, and also gained a large number of fans and good attention in China.
The pride of the sky, the unparalleled in the world, and even "GOAT", any extreme word that represents excellence is not an exaggeration to put it on Otani's body.
On the evening of April 3, Los Angeles time, Ohtani hit the first home run of his Dodgers career
When there is a "GOAT" in the history of professional sports, it is not just as simple as driving a team or a league, but it can directly increase the impact of a sport, as is the case with Michael Jordan, who we are more familiar with.
As we all know, Michael Jordan's greatness is not only reflected in the reign of terror on the court, but also in the important role he played in the NBA and basketball to the world. In the early 90s, the NBA introduced the regular season to the Chinese market for the first time, and in the popularization of color TV, Jordan at the peak of his life created a star effect, setting off a wave of basketball fever in China - Bulls and Jordan, but also became synonymous with basketball when the concept of sports stars was not popular.
Under the rapid development of new media and short videos, Ohtani, wearing the legendary blue jersey and the LA logo on his head, may be a great opportunity for MLB and baseball.
In the era of new media, baseball has taken root and developed
In the current commercial sports landscape, the way fans consume games has been constantly changing, and the structure of main course (game) + dessert (social media) is also one of the main ways for sports leagues to stay sticky and gain increments. And if you want to catch the attention of young people in the era of information overload, this is also a logic that MLB must embrace when developing baseball.
According to Krypton, MLB not only continued to cooperate with BesTV in the new season to present fans with a full range of high-definition and wonderful live broadcasts, but also worked with Douyin, a new media live broadcast partner, to continue to explore a new model of combining social media and live broadcast rights in the face of more than 600 million daily active users.
In fact, since 2021, MLB has been creating original content and creating a talent matrix to create a diverse viewing ecology for baseball fans, while also allowing more baseball novices to access and like the sport through more threshold-free content.
Muneri Kawasaki's clip of "Readable Mess Back" is loved by fans
And this year, Douyin's cooperation upgrade will also bring new increments from this part, using official broadcast + new media to bring real "customization" to fans.
It is reported that MLB invited social experts in non-baseball fields such as Yu Shuang, Yang Yi's office, and Sun Shirui to come online to chat with professional baseball commentators, bringing more choices to everyone, reaching non-baseball fans through these experts, and letting these experts bring their fans to understand and familiarize themselves with baseball. At the same time, the follow-up will also cooperate with Douyin to launch a Douyin commentary recruitment activity, inviting all friends who are interested in baseball to come to the microphone to show their talent and love.
Focusing on a single game, such an idea has brought confidence to the spread of baseball.
At the Seoul tournament in March, Shohei Ohtani, who has focused on hitting this season, made his Dodge debut, and Ohtani once again proved his true form after two consecutive days of hitting and contributing points, and finally led Dodgers to a 1-1 draw with the San Diego Padres. It is reported that the series has accumulated more than 2 million online viewers on domestic live broadcast platforms, and MLB has held 26 viewing parties in 12 cities, gathering baseball fans from all over the country to watch the game together.
At the same time, the two popular girl groups (G)I-DLE and Aespa, who served as guest performers in the Seoul race, also attracted the attention of many cross-border fans on social media, and the (G)I-DLE stage released by MLB's official station B account reached 120,000 views within 24 hours, and at the same time topped the popular list of the whole site; Weibo hashtag #gidle The MLB stage has also been on the Weibo hot search list for many consecutive days, creating nearly 13 million readers, and completing a high-quality cross-circle communication and communication.
Cross-border interaction and heat sharing has always been a common communication method in the sports world, and MLB's league culture with great theme characteristics is also infinitely suitable for this logic. In recent years, the league has interacted with MLB China Baseball Culture Promotion Ambassador Yang Zi, MLB All-Star China Recommendation Officer Ai Ge, and "MLB Take Me to the Stadium" visit envoy Yu Shuang has had many interactions, experienced baseball lessons, visited professional baseball stadiums, and promoted the unique culture of the sport from multiple perspectives.
As of today, MLB's official account matrix has settled in 6 major platforms, accumulating 9.65 million+ fans across the network. Attention and craze can intuitively and continuously drive activity in the field, but just like MLB's "baseball for all" in 2023, if a sport wants to develop in the long run, it needs to focus on horizontal popularization in the mass base, as well as more forms of participation and management.
Full circle coverage, multi-angle promotion, MLB's Chinese baseball insistence
It is an undeniable fact that the phenomenal Ohtani and MLB's careful management can drive people's attention to baseball. But just like Yao Ming's landing in North America to create a scene of 10,000 empty alleys, making the NBA one of the most influential overseas sports leagues in China in one fell swoop, the landing of Chinese baseball teenagers in the major leagues is also something that fans and practitioners have been looking forward to.
Source: @baseballtradingpins
In fact, before the emergence of Shohei Ohtani, domestic youth training has always been regarded as one of the main missions of MLB. Since the MLB Baseball Development Center (MLB DC) was established in Wuxi and Changzhou in 2009, 138 students have graduated from the MLB Baseball Development Center to pursue baseball-related work in professional games, leagues, and clubs.
Among them, including Qin Zimo, who is currently in the San Diego Padres' subordinate system, a total of 8 players have signed with MLB, and 32 players have signed with the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CNBL) after graduation and embarked on a professional path.
Baseball legend Coach Zhang Baoshu is coaching young players
At the same time, at last year's Hangzhou Asian Games and the World Baseball Classic, several MLB DC graduates wore Chinese team uniforms, played for the five-star red flag on their chests, and defeated the Japanese team for the first time in history with a score of 1-0 in the Asian Games group round-robin.
It is understood that there are 98,815 primary schools nationwide that carry out baseball activities, and more than 1,500 baseball schools, and in order to allow these children to get in touch with professional baseball games as soon as possible, MLB has launched MLB CUP Youth Baseball Open, College Baseball and Softball Open and other professional events, creating an event system for different age groups, so that all players can experience the feeling of winning honor for their schools and cities through their favorite sports.
"As the game matures, we will further integrate the best of more baseball culture to provide a better experience for both players and spectators, such as the exclusive card that helped the young players shoot during last year's MLB CUP Finals, which was very popular with everyone. Qi Dong, managing director of MLB China, shared with Krypton.
Not only the youth training system, but also the growth of the public's awareness and experience of baseball is also traceable. Riding on the momentum of new urban sports that have attracted much attention in recent years, baseball's audience continues to expand through events such as MLB's "First Baseball Lesson". Krypton understands that MLB is also planning a mysterious travel guide to Chinese baseball stadiums to eliminate fans' questions about "where to play baseball" and help more people develop their baseball hobby conveniently and clearly.
For professional sports leagues, the attention and attraction of young circles is a proposition that will never go out of style. NOTING THE DYNAMIC ESPORTS SCENE AND THE HUGE INFLUENCE OF MOBILE GAMES IN THE CHINESE MARKET, MLB LICENSED GOLA SPORTS, CHINA'S TOP SPORTS GAME DEVELOPER, TO CREATE CHINA'S FIRST MLB MOBILE GAME, BASEBALL MASTERS.
The game has the real data and logo movements of more than 2,000 professional baseball players, based on the latest upgraded Motion Matching motion engine development of Wangchen Technology, which shows all the links in the baseball game one by one, and restores them through fine graphics and realistic stadium scenes, so that players can arrange and choose in lineups, tactics and ways to use the ball, and feel the fun of the baseball game to the greatest extent.
Yankee Stadium in Baseball Masters
The popularity of mobile games and sports games among young people goes without saying, and the key to MLB's "secret weapon" is that you don't need a baseball foundation to play the game, but once you experience the game, you are very likely to fall in love with baseball. In fact, because of the continuous attention, "Baseball Master" has also become one of the main live broadcast content of many Chinese and foreign game streamers, if the game can continue to improve performance, then it will be able to bring a different vitality and attention to the baseball circle.
On April 20, the launching ceremony of MLB's "STRIKE FOR ZERO" regenerated baseball stadium was also successfully held at the Peanut Pitcher Baseball Stadium in Longwan Wetland Le Run Park, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, demonstrating the persistence of a century-old sports league in the name of environmental protection, and actively responding to green development and "dual carbon" The goal is to expand the environmental protection scene from baseball stadiums to more space formats.
We would like to see MLB, an international force with rich experience, continue to play an important role in the development of baseball in China, and at the same time let more children be inspired by the MVP on the other side of the ocean who has the same skin color as them, and are ready to "take over the baton in the future" at any time.