He playball has arrived again in international baseball! Once the national leagues in the “hot ball” have concluded, the 3rd edition of the ‘WBSC Premier 12‘, the ‘King of Sports’ international tournament, which is held every 4 years, has been launched in 3 different venues, with the best twelve novenas in the world.
Like the ‘World Baseball Classic’ (last played in 2023), this tournament is held every 4 years; but with the difference that it is organized only by the World Baseball and Softball Confederation (the MLB also participates in the WBC), so it is played during the rest period of the most important leagues, which responds to the main objective of become the highest-ranking international baseball competition, and one might think that this means that the superstars of “the big tent” could be present, however, the majority prefer to prioritize their rest.
The ‘WBSC Premier 12’ is linked to the qualifying process for the Olympic Games, which increases its relevance, making it an ideal showcase for the presentation of future promises, which gives the competition greater weight to the strategic aspect, although unfortunately It does not have as much media coverage, nor the interest of as many fans as the World Classic.
Its creation took place in July 2014, to give way to its first edition in Taiwan in 2015, in which South Korea was crowned by a score of 8-0 over the United States, while Japan came in third place, beat the Mexican ninth 11-1. For 2019 in Japan, it was the local team that took the crown by beating South Korea 5-3 in the grand final, while Mexico took third place by beating the United States 3-2.
This 2024 edition is currently being played from November 9 to 24 in baseball parks in Japan, Chinese Taipei and Mexico, with the final phase to be played in Japan, among the 12 countries best placed in the world ranking, divided in two sectors: in Group A, which has as its headquarters the Charros Stadium in Guadalajara and El Coloso de la Santa Teresita in Tepic, Nayarit, in our country, there are present: Mexico (2nd), United States (3rd), Venezuela ( 6th), Netherlands (7th), Panama (10th) and Puerto Rico (12th); Meanwhile, the Nagoya Dome, the Tianmu Stadium and the Taipei Dome are the stadiums where they play in Group B: Japan (1st), South Korea (4th), Chinese Taipei (5th), Cuba (8th) , Dominican Republic (9th) and Australia (11th).
The first round will end this Monday, November 18, to give way to the Super Round and Finals to be held from the 21st to the 24th between the 2 best teams in each group at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. For sector A, those classified have already been defined: Venezuela and the United States, while the locals: Japan and Chinese Taipei lead group B.
It seems that this competition could also be dominated by the Asian squads, as in the World Baseball Classicin which the championships have been distributed in 5 editions: Japan with 3 titles (2006, 2009 and 2023), one from the Dominican Republic (2013) and another from the United States (2017), so if you win a team different from the Japanese, it will be interesting to know which one is recognized as the true world champion.
So dear readers of ‘Epics… of noblemen, heroines and other sporting exploits’: Were you aware of this international baseball tournament? What do you think is needed for it to have greater importance than the ‘World Classic’?
