Baseball - Small Country, Big Dreams

This team is extraordinary, a reminder of the immensely rich history of Czech sport. The men's national baseball team is made up of firefighters, teachers, financial analysts and groundskeepers. The rest of the world sees them as so-called amateurs, but they don't use that word, because they see themselves as professionals. They don't earn a living from baseball, but they are professionals in their passion for the game, their tireless hard work, and their unceasing effort to go further and further on their baseball journey. In the autumn of 2022, they sensationally qualified for the magnificent World Baseball Classic, the only clash of national teams featuring players from the American professional league, MLB, and top Japanese baseball players from the renowned NPB league.
In March 2023, coach Pavel Chadim's team played all their WBC games in the famous Tokyo Dome and, thanks to a victory over China, secured their place in the next tournament in three years' time. Japan, which has been in love with baseball for more than 150 years, took the plucky Czechs to its heart. They showed the nation that they can play its favourite game, demonstrating resilience and a sense of fair play. For Czech baseball, it was a breakthrough moment in a story that is far from over. It could be the start of a new era.

The Czech baseball players arrived in Japan as the heroes of an unconventional story of brave "amateurs", as everyone called them. In the eyes of the Japanese fans, they left as baseball players to whom they said, "Come back soon!"