⚾ Brazil hits a home run

One of the biggest successes in Brazilian sport in 2025 went largely under the radar. On a warm March night in Tucson, Arizona, Brazil’s men’s national team beat Germany 6-4 in a hard-fought encounter to seal its spot in the world championships for the first time in 13 years, and only the second time in history.

The sport? It would be difficult to guess with even three chances. Baseball.

The world championships in question are the 2026 World Baseball Classic, a tournament that Brazil’s men’s baseball team has only taken part in once in its history, in 2013. In March, Brazil will face off against some of the strongest nations in the world, and put the country’s recent baseball progress to the test.

As the US’s national pastime, it should come as no surprise that baseball was introduced to Brazil in the mid-to-late-19th century by American expats, who worked for the energy and telephone companies in the rapidly modernizing cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

However, these early games of baseball went no further than basic recreation, and it wasn’t until the arrival of Japanese immigrants to Brazil, starting in 1908, that the sport began to build roots and structure…

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