By Associated Press

MIAMI — Shohei Ohtani’s strikeout of Mike Trout, Trea Turner’s go-ahead, eighth-inning grand slam against Venezuela, Japan’s walk-off semifinal win and Mexico’s comeback from a four-run deficit against Puerto Rico will be replayed over and over.

Edwin Díaz’s season-ending knee injury and Jose Altuve’s broken thumb will be discussed all year, too.

This year’s World Baseball Classic left lasting memories, 47 games over two weeks that restored Japan’s supremacy and reinforced Ohtani’s unmatched ability while expanding the sport’s global footprint.

While not an international fixation like soccer’s World Cup, the event has grown though its five editions since launching in 2006.

“This is kind of our Olympics. We don’t get that opportunity to really play wherever the Olympics are at,” Kyle Schwarber said before the Americans lost to Japan 3-2 in Tuesday night’s final, when Ohtani fanned Trout to seal Japan’s first title since 2009 and third overall. Baseball is no longer a permanent Olympic sport, and Samurai Japan beat a U.S. team stocked with minor leaguers for gold when baseball was temporarily restored at the previous Games.

Played in Miami, Phoenix, Tokyo and Taiwan, the star-studded WBC will finish with revenue of $90 million to $100 million, Major League Baseball said. Attendance of 1,306,414 was the tournament’s highest, 20% over the 1,086,720 for 40 games in 2017.

The championship game on FS1, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming services was the most-watched WBC game ever in the United States, up 69% from the 2017 final with a combined audience of 5.2 million viewers. A peak combined average audience of 6.5 million viewers tuned in for the This year’s semifinals on FS1 and Fox Deportes averaged 2.4 million viewers, up 96% from the semis in 2017, when the tournament was televised by MLB Network and ESPN Deportes.

“One of the things that was really important this time around was Fox stepping up to broadcast the games,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Nobody’s a bigger fan of the MLB Network than I am, but when you have one of the major broadcasters step up and want the event, that’s a huge deal.”

Concerns about player health have followed the tourney since its inception. Many MLB teams blocked pitchers from participating, wanting them to concentrate on preparing for the start of the season. Injuries to Díaz and Altuve reinforced those concerns.

But with MLB generating revenue and global interest from the tourney, and players eager to represent their home countries, the injury risks seem unlikely to slow the WBC’s growth.