After 13 days, 68 games and millions of dollars spent fixing up stadiums and hosting the teams, it's all over.
Was it worth it?
The tournament was a success on the field for Taiwan, with the home team winning the bronze medal and showing that it can compete on a high level in a major international sport.
Particularly satisfying from Taiwan's point of view was beating Asian rivals South Korea and Japan, both of whom sent strong teams to Taiwan loaded with players from their professional leagues.
Most importantly, the tournament will likely reignite Taiwan's passion for the sport, which was hurt by poor international results and a 1997 game-fixing scandal.
Fans also came back to the stadiums and the television sets, watching Taiwan play in record numbers.
Young fans
More importantly, a new generation of fans may have been born. A glance at the stands showed that many younger fans and women filled the seats.
Also, confirmation that baseball in Taiwan is in good shape should help the country's two professional leagues recapture the hearts of fans.
Still all was not rosy. Except for Taiwan games and when Japan played Cuba, attendance was very poor. City fathers (and mothers) basked in the political glow of welcoming the foreign teams, but then left them in empty stadiums.
For those few games that were sold out, ticketing was a mess.
There was no system to reserve seats and fans were forced to first purchase vouchers, exchange the vouchers for tickets at the stadium and then line up early at the stadiums to get seats.
Without specific reserved seats, many of the fans were left standing or sitting on concession stands because people with passes ended up taking the seats.
Stadium security was also lacking. The legions of uniformed police appeared to be more interested in watching the games than keeping the aisles clear.
The decision to open the gates late for the games was highly questionable, as fans crammed walkways and hung from railings.
The fire marshals must have been watching the game with consternation.
The crush of fans was due in no small part to Tienmu Stadium being too small to host a major international competition.
That the only stadium in the capital city for the "national sport" was built with only 6,000 permanent seats reveals a serious lack of planning.
The lack of an adequate facility also does not bode well for Taiwan's repeated (and always unsuccessful) efforts to land a major regional international competition, such as the Asian Games.
The event may have looked "international" to the domestic audience, how much bang Taiwan got for its bucks is questionable.
While the event did provide President Chen Shui-bian (
A cricket match between Sri Lanka and the West Indies drew more attention on CNN Worldsport than the Baseball World Cup.
Part of the problem was the lack of a professional public relations effort to promote the tournament overseas.
Admittedly, part of this problem rests at the feet of the International Baseball Federation -- located in the baseball wastelands of Switzerland -- whose official tournament Web site crashed for much of the competition.
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