Commissioner: 'Great momentum' coming off '24 postseason

PHOENIX ¨C Touting the ¡°crisp, athletic and action-packed¡± product that has emerged from MLB¡¯s rules changes and the league¡¯s increasing reach overseas, Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed enthusiasm for the upcoming 2025 season at Spring Training Media Day here on Tuesday.

¡°Our clubs are telling us that they expect that we¡¯ll be up, attendance-wise, for the third year in a row,¡± Manfred told reporters. ¡°Our ratings across all our platforms were up [in 2024], and we¡¯re particularly excited that our 18-34s [age range] were up. It¡¯s a real focus to make sure we have the youngest possible audience.¡±

Manfred said last year¡¯s postseason, which concluded with a World Series that drew the highest average and total ratings since 2016, gives the league ¡°great momentum.¡±

¡°It was not just the World Series,¡± Manfred said. ¡°We had great series earlier in the playoffs, great individual games and a really interesting mix in the postseason.¡±

The participation of Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto drew record World Series ratings in Japan. That dovetails with MLB¡¯s ever-increasing resonance with Asian fans. The offseason featured Japanese stars such as Roki Sasaki (Dodgers), Tomoyuki Sugano (Orioles) and Shinnosuke Ogasawara (Nationals) moving from Nippon Professional Baseball to MLB. And the 2025 regular season will begin with the Tokyo Series between the Cubs and Dodgers on March 18-19 at the Tokyo Dome.

So the game will continue to make an international impact.

¡°We do continue to attract the best players in the world to play in Major League Baseball,¡± Manfred said. ¡°We had unbelievable audiences in Korea and Japan last year. The opener in Korea was the biggest Japanese audience we ever had. And we had games during the World Series where the audience in Korea and Japan rivaled the U.S. and Canada.¡±

Of course, MLB has been to Japan before. Uniquely, the 2025 season will bring the MLB Speedway Classic -- an Aug. 2 game between the Reds and Braves at historic Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. It will continue the recent tradition of MLB at Field of Dreams and MLB at Rickwood Field taking baseball at its highest level to iconic settings.

¡°That¡¯s another different experience,¡± Manfred said of the Speedway Classic, ¡°that will be different for fans and taking baseball someplace we don¡¯t play day in and day out.¡±