Baseball is actually played in two other nations, in Canada, of course - and the Canadians have, on occassion, participated in the world series, and also in Japan. Japan has not participated in the world series because their 'East' and 'West' leagues are independent of the leagues in the states, however, the Japanese love baseball. The popularity of baseball in Japan has far surpassed that of their former national sport, 'sumo' (also known as 'sumo wrestling'), though champion sumo wrestlers remain respected public figures, indeed honored far beyond the levels of baseball players. However, it's rather hard to have a 'pick-up game' of Sumo on a lazy Sunday afternoon, whereas that's just what baseball was made for.