Well, ladies and gents, the hour has finally come. Time is a flat circle and what goes around comes around. After digesting the Superteam Out West's thrilling World Series victory last year, the 2025 Major League Baseball season has finally arrived!
However, some of our readers may wonder why the MLB's return matters for fans of the United Kingdom. After all, there won't be any MLB games played inside the British Isles anytime soon. Luckily, we have an interesting cultural lesson for you all!
According to Andrew Weltch's research for the Society for American Baseball Research, Wales and England play a peculiar version of America's favorite pastime.
Much like the American version, Welsh/British Baseball has pitchers, batters, bases, and runs. However, the two games are actually quite different.
British Baseball lets teams field 11 players at a time and records runs for each team every time they reach a base. You read that correctly, EVERY time. That means games in Wales can easily crack triple digits if a team gets hot.
Andrew Weltch's research shows that this actually happened back in 1908!
100 runs in a single game?! HOW?!?!
Baseball fans might think they're watching a weird cricket game in the video above instead of a variation of baseball. However, American and Japanese players played the British code of the game during brief visits in the past. Likewise, British players had no problem playing under American rules whenever their guests requested it.
Unfortunately, Wales and England have failed to grow their version's popularity outside their own borders. In England's case, it can't even build up a solid domestic league.
For what it's worth, Wales' efforts to preserve its sport have been more successful.
In 2007, Wales had 24 men's teams in Cardiff and Newport playing within its three division league. However, this was a great decline from the sport's prime, as there were 40 men's teams playing in Cardiff alone in 1938.
Andrew Weltch's research shows that Wales was usually the better country whenever it played in England in the countries' famous international rivalry. In the first ever International Game in 1908, wales scored 102 points in the first of two innings against England.
Again, that was not a typo. British Baseball innings don't end until all 11 batters strike out or become stranded on base. Also, you have to remember that every base hit scores a point. Wales capitalized on these rules to beat England 122-118.
Obviously, we won't be seeing scores like these during the 2025 MLB season. The Chicago Colts (now known as the Chicago Cubs) were the last team to eclipse 35 points after they beat the Louisville colonels 36 to 7 on June 29, 1897. Since then, we've been lucky to see teams get close to 30.
So, grab your popcorn this weekend and get ready to see some 9-on-9 defensive struggles the way America's forefathers intended!
If we pray hard enough, we might even get to see a team "explode" for ten runs!