Baseball beyond the box score

Turning a global sport into a local fan experience. 

Baseball is deeply embedded in popular culture and enjoys enormous recognition in markets such as the United States and Japan. In Germany and large parts of Europe, however, the sport still occupies a niche. Many people recognize its visual codes—the cap, the jersey, the stadium, the bat—but have little understanding of the game, its players, its clubs or the stories behind a season.

The challenge for the German Baseball League and the German Baseball Federation is therefore not simply to generate more coverage among existing baseball fans. It is to attract entirely new audiences to a sport that is still unfamiliar to many people and can initially appear difficult to understand. Rules, statistics and league structures create an additional barrier, while the players, rivalries and cultural relevance of German baseball remain largely invisible outside the existing community.

Netflix's Drive to Survive demonstrated how storytelling can create new access to a sport. It did not ask people to understand every technical detail of Formula 1 before becoming interested. Instead, it introduced audiences to personalities, relationships, conflicts, ambitions and decisive moments—and gave them a reason to care about what happened next.

The task was to develop a similar entry point for baseball in Germany: one that makes the sport easier to discover, creates emotional connections and turns initial curiosity into lasting interest.

From first contact to lasting fandom.

INNINGS was created as an editorial platform that makes baseball in Germany and Europe easier to discover, understand and follow. Instead of speaking primarily to existing baseball insiders, the platform addresses people who may know the imagery of the sport but not yet its rules, players, clubs or stories.

The central idea is to create emotional access before expecting a full understanding of the game. INNINGS therefore does not begin with statistics or technical explanations. It begins with personalities, rivalries, ambitions, rituals and cultural connections. Similar to the role Drive to Survive played for Formula 1, the platform gives audiences a reason to care about the people involved—and consequently about the sport itself.

Each format provides a different point of entry. Base on Balls places developments in German and international baseball into a wider context and makes the season easier to follow. The Walk-Up starts with a player's entrance song and uses music to introduce their personality, background and relationship with baseball. Profiles, interviews and long-form features connect the game with fashion, design, collecting, local communities and everyday life.

These stories make an unfamiliar sport more accessible without oversimplifying it. Rules, positions and league structures are explained when they become relevant to the narrative, allowing audiences to develop their knowledge gradually rather than requiring it from the beginning.

INNINGS creates a clear journey from initial curiosity to regular engagement: people discover baseball through a song, a player or a cultural story; they begin to understand the game and its protagonists; they follow clubs, competitions and the season; and ultimately become part of the baseball community.

The platform therefore goes beyond reporting on baseball. It builds the editorial and cultural infrastructure needed to attract new audiences, strengthen existing fandom and increase the visibility and relevance of German and European baseball over time.