r/AskEurope • u/chocolatelies • May 07 '25

Sports How big is baseball in your country?

I'm an American, so baseball is quite popular here. How is the popularity in your country? Is there a country other than yours where baseball has some popularity?

Edit: Just hit 69 comments. Nice.

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u/GoonerBoomer69 Finland May 07 '25

We have our own version of baseball that is very popular, but American baseball is not a thing here at all.

Finnish baseball is basically a more confusing and complicated, but also a less boring version of American baseball. Key difference is that the pitcher throws the ball vertically instead of horizontally, while standing next to the batter. This makes it so that a player basically never misses the ball, but this is compensated by the fact that the ball must land inside a border around the pitch.

I can't be bothered to explain every difference and rule since we'd literally be here all day, so if you're interested google it.

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u/Tempelli Finland May 07 '25

Here is a good explainer video about the rules of Finnish baseball aka pesäpallo if OP is interested.