★ WBN Major Coverage · 48 Articles
United Arab Emirates · Dubai Hub · Inaugural Launched 2024
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BASEBALL UNITED
Professional League · UAE · India · Pakistan · Saudi Arabia
The first professional baseball league for the Middle East and South Asia. Six clubs. Dubai as the hub. Founded and backed by Mariano Rivera, Barry Larkin, Manny Ramirez, and investor-commissioner Kash Shaikh. The business thesis: 1.8 billion people in a region with zero pro baseball before 2024. Target markets are India, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia. The Mid-Season Showcase runs November through February. World Baseball Network has been the single biggest English-language editorial home for this league.
⚡ When to Watch Baseball United from the US
UAE is UTC+4 (Gulf Standard Time) — 8 hours ahead of US Eastern. Baseball United games run primarily in the evening local time, which puts them morning-to-midday on the US East Coast. The Mid-Season Showcase is a compressed tournament format — fewer games, bigger stakes, better for one-sitting viewing.
11:00 AM ET
Evening 19:00 GST
12:00 PM ET
20:00 GST prime
Nov–Feb
Mid-Season Showcase
Weekends
Best matchup windows
01
Where to Watch Baseball United
Evolving distribution · Verified Apr 2026
02
2026 Showcase Key Dates
Nov 2025
Showcase Returns
2nd Mid-Season Showcase launches at Al Dhaid Cricket Village · Dubai.
Dec 2025
Group Play
All 6 clubs in round-robin format · international broadcasts.
Jan 2026
Showcase Finals
Championship round · crowned Showcase winner.
Feb 2026
Offseason
League regroups for expansion to Riyadh and Mumbai windows.
Mid-2026
Expansion Draft
New markets identified · Saudi Arabia, India clubs rumored.
Nov 2026
3rd Showcase
Expanded format projected · potential 8 clubs.
03
The 6 Clubs
Founding season + expansion
Baseball United · 6 Clubs
Mumbai Cobras — India-branded · Targeting the 1.4B Indian market · Priority club
Karachi Monarchs — Pakistan-branded · Featured Pakistani national team core
Arabia Wolves — Saudi Arabian branding · Vision 2030 sports initiative tie-in
Mid East Falcons — Regional MENA-focused branding
Bangladesh Royals — Targeting the Bangladeshi diaspora
Dubai Wildcats — UAE host club · Home base in Dubai
04
The Founder-Investors
Hall of Fame backing
Mariano Rivera
Yankees · HoF closer · 652 saves · Advisor
Barry Larkin
Reds · HoF shortstop · 1995 NL MVP · Advisor
Manny Ramirez
555 HR · 2× World Series · Advisor
Kash Shaikh
Commissioner · Founder · CEO
Félix Hernández
Mariners · Cy Young · King Felix · Advisor
Robinson Canó
Player · Investor · 8× All-Star
The Fact
The World's Largest Untapped Baseball Market — And Nobody's There Yet
Baseball United is the first professional baseball league ever founded in the region that includes India (population 1.4B), Pakistan (240M), UAE (10M), and Saudi Arabia (36M). That's a combined 1.8 billion potential viewers with zero pro baseball history. The league's thesis is simple: you don't compete for existing baseball fans, you build new ones. Cricket supplies the cultural context — pitching, batting, running, fielding translate. The Dubai hub is deliberate: hub airport, crypto-friendly banking, low taxes, existing sports infrastructure from the Indian Premier League and F1. When Kash Shaikh assembled Rivera, Larkin, and Manny as advisors, he wasn't recruiting for name recognition — he was recruiting the only three humans who could walk into a Riyadh or Mumbai pitch meeting and be the most respected person in the room. World Baseball Network has been the dominant English-language voice documenting the league's rise, with 48 articles in the archive and counting.
⚡ Follow Baseball United on WBN
World Baseball Network has 48 articles on Baseball United — the largest English-language editorial archive on the league. Breaking news, signings, showcase recaps.
Open WBN's Baseball United Archive →