Baseball United: Bringing Professional Baseball to the Middle East
- Mason Linken
- Nov 4
- 4 min read
There’s never been a better time for international baseball. The 2023 World Baseball Classic set records for attendance, sponsorship, merchandise sales, and viewership. With dozens of professional leagues already existing worldwide—in the United States, Caribbean countries, Asia, South America, Australia, and more—global attention on the game of baseball is at an all-time high.
As that attention continues to grow, 2025 marks the first time a professional baseball league will exist in the Middle East. Baseball United has made waves in recent years and is gearing up for its inaugural season, which will take place from November 14 to December 14. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Kash Shaikh, Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Baseball United, prior to the start of league play.
Since its inception in November 2022, Baseball United has focused on growing baseball on the international front. Thanks to the efforts of the league’s founders – Shaikh, Barry Larkin, Mariano Rivera, and John P. Miedreich – four founding franchises have been introduced and will all compete in the upcoming season. The Mumbai Cobras will be India’s first professional baseball team, the Karachi Monarchs will be Pakistan’s, with the league's other two franchises—the Mid-East Falcons (Abu Dhabi) and the Arabia Wolves (Dubai)—both based in the UAE.
The league has secured major investments from Baseball United’s 20 MLB co-owners, one of the most prestigious player-led ownership groups in all of professional sports. Superstars like Albert Pujols, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Adrian Beltre have all put their names behind the league’s formation and growth.
They’ve backed Shaikh’s carefully selected location for Baseball United as well: the Middle East. Offering an already established cricket market, the Middle East’s size allows for an immediate impact. “[In] the Indian subcontinent and the GCC and Arabian Peninsula, there's 2 billion people… it's the bat and ball epicenter of the universe”, said Shaikh. “Our basic hypothesis was if we could inspire some of these cricket fans to fall in love with America's pastime of baseball, then we could make significant community and commercial impact, business impact.”
Baseball United’s influence will go beyond the Middle East, with over 30 different countries represented across the league’s four 23-man rosters. Players like Konsta Kurrika from Finland, Munenori Kawasaki from Japan, and Christiaan Beyers from South Africa will all play in the inaugural season, alongside others from the USA, Hungary, Aruba, Cuba, Mexico, Germany, and more.
One such player is Alex Katz, a left-handed pitcher for the Arabia Wolves. Originally from New York, he’s embraced the opportunity to bring professional baseball to another area of the world. “The idea of introducing the sport to new fans in the Middle East is something I’m very proud to be involved in”, Katz told FBC Reports. “I think Baseball United is going to have a real impact, and I’m excited to play a small role in that.”
Shaikh built on Katz’s sentiments, and emphasized the importance of having players from all around the globe play in Baseball United, “One of the biggest ways to inspire a whole country is to have someone from that country play on an international stage”, said Shaikh. “[We’ve partnered] with a lot of baseball federations from around the world to enable them to be a part of what we're building”.
New fans are just as eager as the league's players, with over four million viewers tuning into Baseball United’s first game in the UAE Showcase Series in February 2025. For reference, the New York Yankees average nearly 300,000 viewers per game. With broadcast agreements in India, Pakistan, Japan, Korea, and other Middle Eastern countries, Shaikh believes that “[Baseball United] already has a larger international distribution than Major League Baseball.”
“Our goal is to break records with our viewership”, he added. “The goal in that regard is beating the 55 million viewer record set in the 1986 World Series”, explained Herbie Pallotta, the league's SVP of Marketing.
Viewers will be able to tune into the action at Baseball United Ballpark in Dubai – the first professional baseball field in the Middle East – which was constructed in just 38 days. The ballpark holds up to 3,000 people and will give many in the Middle East the opportunity to enjoy their first baseball outing. “We want them to fall in love with the game”, said Shaikh. “We want to make sure all of our fans have an amazing experience. We want to have great baseball on the field that everybody can enjoy. We’ve got a great group of people that are passionate about the game, that love the game, that want to grow the game.”
When first pitch kicks off between Karachi and Mumbai at 8 PM GST on November 14, that passionate group of people leading the league will have succeeded in first step of their mission. Baseball will never stop growing globally, and the Middle East is its next stop.
(Data found in: baseballunited.com)
(Quotes via FBC Reports interviews with Kash Shaikh, Herbie Pallotta, and Alex Katz)
Cover photo via Baseball United
