India became MLB's sixth international office after Japan, Mexico, China, the UK and the Dominican Republic. (Special Arrangement)
NEW DELHI: When Major League Baseball (MLB) opened its office in India in 2019, it wasn't the beginning of its journey in India. It was the culmination of a 15-year wait. For Ryo Takahashi, MLB's Director of International Business and the man leading its operations in India, the timing wasn't driven by a grand strategic moment or a blockbuster announcement. It was simply when years of conversations finally turned into an official commitment. "People think MLB suddenly discovered India in 2019," Takahashi said in a free-wheeling chat with TimesofIndia.com. "The reality is we had been discussing India for almost 15 years before opening the office. There wasn't a magical reason why it happened in 2019. That's simply when we received the approvals and could make the commitment official," he said. Seven years later, MLB's ambitions in India still look very different from those of most global sports leagues. There are no plans for a professional franchise, no immediate push for a domestic league and no obsession with television ratings. Instead, the league is betting on a deceptively simple idea: if enough children pick up a baseball, everything else will eventually follow.
The NBA, La Liga, the Premier League -- they've all spent years understanding Indian fans.
Ryo Takahashi | MLB's Director of International Business
Learning before launching
India became MLB's sixth international office after Japan, Mexico, China, the UK and the Dominican Republic. But unlike those markets, baseball arrived with almost no cultural footprint here. That forced the league to begin by listening rather than selling. "We don't believe we have all the answers," Takahashi says. "The NBA, La Liga, the Premier League -- they've all spent years understanding Indian fans. I have friends and colleagues across those organisations, and we've learnt as much from their mistakes as their successes," he added. Rather than copying another league's blueprint, MLB chose to build its own Indian version: one centred on schools, grassroots coaching and local storytelling. Since 2019, it has introduced the First Pitch programme in schools across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, launched the MLB Cup youth tournament and produced India-focused documentaries to make baseball feel more relatable.
Since 2019, MLB India has introduced the First Pitch programme in schools across Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, launched the MLB Cup youth tournament. (Special Arrangement)
Ask Takahashi when India will produce its first Major League player, and he gently rejects the premise. "People ask us when India will produce an MLB player. That's the wrong starting point," he says. "If one out of every hundred children who tries baseball decides to keep playing, that's already a victory. In a country of India's size, one per cent becomes a very big number." For MLB, participation is the primary currency, not finding elite talent. "Our responsibility is to create opportunities. Whether that child eventually plays for an MLB club or simply falls in love with baseball, both outcomes help grow the sport," he reasoned.
Cricket isn't our competitor. It might actually be our biggest advantage
Ryo Takahashi
That thinking explains why MLB measures success through expanding coaching networks, more schools adopting baseball and the remarkable growth of the MLB Cup, which has evolved from just 12 teams in its inaugural edition into a nationwide youth competition involving thousands of participants.
Cricket isn't the enemy
Conventional wisdom says cricket makes life impossible for another bat-and-ball sport. Takahashi argues the opposite. "Cricket isn't our competitor. It might actually be our biggest advantage," he says. "Indian kids already grow up throwing, catching and hitting a ball. Those athletic foundations are already there," he explained. He has watched six-year-olds experience baseball for the first time and noticed how naturally many adapt. "We don't have to teach them how to throw; we just have to show them a different game."
Former India T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav attended a MLB match in the USA recently. (Special Arrangement)
MLB's objective isn't replacing cricket but borrowing from its ecosystem. Familiar movements reduce the learning curve, making baseball feel less foreign than many assume.
The broadcaster paradox
Baseball's biggest obstacle in India isn't awareness alone. It's the clock. Most MLB games unfold in the early hours of the morning for Indian audiences, creating what Takahashi calls a classic chicken-and-egg problem. Even with broadcast partnerships in place with JioStar, he knows the league's target audience isn't awake.
An eight-year-old probably isn't holding the TV remote at that time. So maybe today's player becomes tomorrow's viewer. That's the journey we're trying to build.
Ryo Takahashi
"We want children to watch baseball, become curious and then play," he says. "But our games often happen at two or three in the morning in India." "An eight-year-old probably isn't holding the TV remote at that time. So maybe today's player becomes tomorrow's viewer. That's the journey we're trying to build." It's why MLB sees broadcasting as supporting grassroots rather than replacing it. A child introduced to baseball in school today may become the adult streaming the World Series a decade later.
Suryakumar Yadav trying his hand in the baseball. (Special Arrangement)
Why MLB isn't building stadiums
Perhaps Takahashi's most counterintuitive belief concerns infrastructure. While many emerging sports demand facilities first, MLB believes demand must precede concrete. "People often say India needs baseball stadiums first," he says. "We actually think it works the other way around. First you create players, then you create demand, and eventually the infrastructure follows." He points to countless sporting cultures where children develop elite skills using improvised equipment and open spaces. "Kids don't need a perfect baseball diamond to learn baseball. Skills come before stadiums." India already has cricket grounds, football fields and school playgrounds. For now, those are enough.
If, by 2031, baseball has become part of everyday sporting conversations in India, we've done our job.
Ryo Takahashi
More than nine innings: Enter MLBX
That philosophy extends into MLB's biggest fan-facing initiative yet. Scheduled for October 24 in Mumbai, MLBX isn't designed as a traditional baseball tournament. It's a festival. Headed to the Mumbai Football Arena, Andheri Sports Complex, for MLBX are legends of the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, two-time defending champions Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. "We asked ourselves: cricket evolved from Test matches to T20, football embraced futsal -- what’s baseball's version of that for India? MLBX is our answer," says Takahashi. The format features shorter games, compact fields, home-run contests, music performances and food inspired by classic American ballparks with Indian flavours. Baseball remains the centrepiece, but culture is the hook. The format or the tournament in itself is not new. MLBX is a mixed 3-on-3 baseball competition that combines power hitting, athletic defensive plays and fast-paced gameplay. The competition made its appearance during MLB All-Star Week in Philadelphia. The event has previously taken place at 15 US venues over the past three years, as well as internationally in London, Seoul and Mexico City. "It's not just about games," Takahashi says. "It's home-run contests, music, food, culture and entertainment. We want someone to leave Mumbai thinking, 'That was fun... now let me find out more about baseball.'" He says the partnership with former India T20I captain and Mumbai Indians player Suryakumar Yadav has already generated a noticeable spike in enquiries, reinforcing MLB's belief that collaborating with cricket opens doors rather than closes them.
A future where his job disappears
Takahashi smiles when asked where he wants baseball in India to be by 2031. "My dream is to do such a good job that I make myself unemployed," he says almost with a grin. The answer is less about personal ambition than institutional success. He imagines an India with thousands more children playing baseball, a genuine national talent pathway, an active Indian national team and perhaps even baseball featuring if India hosts the 2036 Olympics. "If, by 2031, baseball has become part of everyday sporting conversations in India, we've done our job," he says. For a league often associated with packed American ballparks and century-old rivalries, MLB's Indian strategy is strikingly patient. Its biggest victory may not be selling out a stadium. It may simply be convincing one child in a school playground to swap a cricket bat for a baseball bat.
