Last Updated: September 10th, 2026 by Matthew Brown
Baseball has enjoyed a renaissance over the last handful of years. Its surge in popularity has been pretty evident compared to what we've seen in the other major sports in the United States. Even though I'm saying that the MLB has seen better growth in popularity than the NFL and NBA, that still doesn't mean that it has surpassed both of those leagues in total revenue on a yearly basis. Still, public perception goes a long way for a brand, and I've seen more and more people talking about baseball than I have in a long time.
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Joon Lee Breaks Down Baseballs Rise
Joon Lee does a great job of extrapolating everything that's going on with the rise of baseball and how we could potentially have a downfall sooner rather than later. There are so many factors that he goes through in this video that I implore you to watch all the way through. Lee has been one of the better journalists for baseball due to his passion for the game. He has such a love for the sport that you can just hear it come through in his work. I think that's what helps to make this video so easy to watch and easy to soak in the information.
I want to highlight something that he talks about in the middle of the video because I have a pretty deep connection to it. He goes into detail about how Shohei Ohtani has obviously made the sport global. I would probably argue that it was already global before Ohtani came into play. I think the global popularity is just now hotter than ever before.
What Ichiro Mania Taught Me Growing Up in Hawaii
This takes me back to watching Ichiro Suzuki come into the MLB and light it up as a rookie. It seemed like an entire nation turned its attention to Major League Baseball to watch it on a daily basis and see how Ichiro did. Growing up in Hawaii, I kind of know what that feels like (on a much smaller scale, of course).
Anytime someone from Hawaii becomes a star in a major sport, or even in the entertainment business on a national or worldwide scale, the sense of pride can be felt in every person on the islands. It basically unites all of us as one community to follow and support everything that person does.
Cherishing Ohtani Before Father Time Wins
Shohei Ohtani has done that and way more, as he's grabbed the attention of many other fans from many other places around the world. He is one of a kind. There will probably never be another one like him again. We have to cherish it now, but also realize that there is a natural decline coming when his career starts to fade, and he inevitably retires. Father Time is undefeated. Joon Lee says that in this video too, and I hope that you can watch it because this was just a small part of the big picture that Lee paints.
So I hope you enjoy the video, and I hope it makes you think about how baseball has been, how baseball is now, and how baseball will be in the near future.
