This November, the 2024 WBSC Premier12 tournament is set to take place: As the title suggests, the top 12 men's national teams in the WBSC rankings are set to take part. (This would have included Canada, had its spot in the rankings not been bumped by Panama...) Group A - hosted by Mexico, and also featuring the USA, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Panama, and Puerto Rico - shall be held at Estadio Panamericano in Guadalajara and at Estadio Olimpico Santa Teresita in Tepic. Group B - co-hosted by Japan and by Chinese Taipei (or, as the WTO refers to it, the Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu), and also featuring South Korea, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Australia - is to be hosted at the Taipei Dome, the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, and Vantelin Dome Nagoya. The Super Round - to be comprised of the winners and runners-up of Group A and Group B respectively - will take place at the Tokyo Dome, where the Finals (the gold and bronze medal games) are also to be held. Team rosters should be announced closer to the event. ----- And as an aside, there'll be an e-sport version going on also:
This tournament is exclusively run by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the governing body of world baseball and softball. MLB has no stake in this and, as such, they have effectively banned all players on 40-man MLB rosters from participating in the tournament. But this doesn't mean the Premier12 is not a worthy tournament as there will no doubt be scouts from many MLB teams on hand hoping to find the next international star. Samurai Japan are the defending champions having defeated Korea in the 2019 final, and current team manager Hirokazu Ibata said back in March that he was looking to have a roster similar to one that played a Europe Select team in a two-game exhibition series a few weeks before the NPB season began. That squad included an interesting mix of established NPB superstars, up-and-coming NPB talent, and 4 top college prospects. There will be at least one significant NPB player who will be unavailable for Team Japan. In his team's final game of the season, Yakult Swallows slugger Munetaka Murakami fouled a pitch off his foot and was diagnosed with a fractured big right toe that will require 2-3 months to heal. Many are also expecting fireball pitcher Roki Sasaki to skip the tournament but neither he nor Ibata have yet to publicly comment on his status. Current Japanese players who played in the first two editions of the Premier12 (2015, 2019) and would eventually go on to play in MLB include... Shogo Akiyama Shōta Imanaga Kenta Maeda Kazuhisa Makita Yuki Matsui Shohei Ohtani Hirokazu Sawamura Seiya Suzuki Yoshi Tsutsugo Shun Yamaguchi Yoshinobu Yamamoto Masataka Yoshida
At the same press conference where the Chinese Taipei management roster was announced, it was revealed that a two-game warmup "Formosa Series" against the Czech Republic is set to be held on the 2nd and 3rd of November: Both games are to be held at the "Big Egg" - which recently hosted the main Double Ten celebration over the past weekend: ----- And also: the Samurai Japan roster has just been announced. Good to see a trio of Fighters - to include Mannami-senshu - on the list!
On the one hand, it's not surprising to see that all five of Chinese Taipei's Group B games are scheduled to be held at the Taipei Dome. But on the other hand, what does surprise me is how many of both Japan's and South Korea's group games are being assigned to Tianmu Stadium instead: Japan is set to play only two group games at the Dome, with two at Tianmu (with one game back in Nagoya); whereas South Korea gets two at the Dome and three at Tianmu. I would have thought the organizers had wanted both of those teams to pack in as many fans as possible. But then, the games at the Dome are the ones these teams are set to play against one another (or against the hosts); perhaps there isn't as high a set of expectations, in terms of local fan turnout for Japan's and South Korea's other group games?
The Chinese Taipei roster has been announced for this year's Premier12 tournament. Three of the players are from MiLB organizations: two from that of the Arizona Diamondbacks, plus one from that of the Philadelphia Phillies. The remaining players are all from the CPBL: 7 from the Rakuten Monkeys, 6 from the Uni-President 7-Elleven Lions, 5 from the Wei Chuan Dragons, 3 each from the CTBC Brothers and the Fubon Guardians,, and 1 from the TSG Hawks. No NPB or KBO inclusions this time around, however. And, in case anyone is wondering about the origins of the name "Chinese Taipei":
A few more countries have announced their 28-player rosters for the tournament. AUSTRALIA CUBA Pitching rotation MEXICO PUERTO RICO Pitchers Position players VENEZUELA
The World Baseball Softball Confederation has signed an eight-year distribution partnership with DAZN, covering this year's Premier12 and other WBSC events across a number of territories. Also, starting in 2027, the next Premier12 shall be the "Premier16", with a new competition format as outlined here. As for the 2024 edition, the WBSC website is keeping tabs on the various roster updates - to include that for Team USA - on this page.
Disappointed that no NPB players were named on the team. To name a few... Tyler Austin Adam Walker Jeremy Beasley Foster Griffin Andre Jackson Anthony Kay Carter Stewart Jr.
Game 1 of the warm-up Formosa Series took place at the Big Egg today: In "official" international games, the Chinese Taipei team is not permitted to use either the "Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth" ROC flag, or the ROC national anthem. Instead, it is obliged to use the "Plum Blossom Banner" Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag, and the music from the ROC flag anthem - but with lyrics that refer only to the Olympic movement in and of itself. However, since this was an "unofficial" game, something else happened instead: Although, even while referring to themselves as "Team Taiwan" - with uniforms that are quite reminiscent of this year's Fubon Guardians jerseys, I have to say - the "T" on the cap still has a "C" embedded in it, as if to not entirely escape from the term "Chinese Taipei". As for the actual game itself, it started with the Czech Republic gaining a 2-run lead in the top of the 1st inning. The home team scored one run at the bottom of the 3rd inning, and one more at the bottom of the 8th; since this was a warm-up game, it finished at the end of the 9th in a 2-2 draw. So, regardless of what name and branding the home side goes by, they might want to improve their on-field performance if they have any hopes of getting out of Group B once the Premier12 starts in earnest. In the meantime, Game 2 against the Czechs is set for tomorrow, once again to be played at the Taipei Dome. On a side note: if the visiting team plans to run a repeat of this cultural performance, I hope the hosts can do something between now and then to improve the acoustic setup supporting it:
Samurai Japan Pre-tournament Camp highlights in Miyazaki Day 4, Saturday 2 November The remaining schedule for the team's Premier12 Autumn Camp Kiyotake General Sports Park (SOKKEN Stadium) in Miyazaki Sunday 3 November : Practice day Monday 4 November : Practice day Tuesday 5 November : Exhibition vs Hiroshima Carp Wednesday 6 November : Practice day Exhibition games against Czechia will be played in Nagoya on 9-10 November. Their Premier12 opener will be on Wednesday 13 November against Australia, also in Nagoya.
Game 2 of the warmup Formosa Series has been settled: The Czech Republic played the role of the "home" team, yet wore the same dark blue jersey as in Game 1 - which I find to be a tad too close to the "away" colour used by the hosts for the occasion. I would have thought that both sides might have agreed to more clearly coordinate their jersey colour choices beforehand... In any case, the Czechs took a one-run lead in the bottom of the second inning, and held onto it through the bottom of the ninth. The top of the sixth, however, saw the "away" team score six runs - to include a grand slam! The Czechs scored two more runs at the bottom of the sixth; however, they conceded two more runs at the top of the seventh, one more at the top of the eighth, and one last run at the top of the ninth inning, with no further replies of their own. The final score was 10-3, ending this two-game series 1-0 in favour of the hosts. The Czechs now head to Nagoya, where - as noted above - they are set to play a two-game warmup series against Samurai Japan. Meanwhile, the hosts are set to swap those "Team Taiwan" jerseys for "Chinese Taipei" ones, in preparation for their Premier12 opening game against South Korea, to be played at the Big Egg on the 13th of November.
Korea hosted Cuba in the two-game "K-Baseball Series" at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The two teams are in Pool B of the Premier12 and will play each other on 14 November in Taiwan.. Friday 1 November Saturday 2 November -
Ryosuke Tatsumi went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored and Kotaro Kurebayashi was 3-for-3 with an RBI as Samurai Japan defeated the Hiroshima Carp 5-0 on Tuesday afternoon in Miyazaki in a preparation game for Japan ahead of next week's Premier12 tournament.. Starting pitcher Haruto Inoue allowed 9 hits with no walks over 3 innings. 3 of the 4 relievers used - Rikuto Yokoyama, Chihiro Sumida, Tatsuya Shimizu - each struck out two batters in the one inning each player pitched. The game lasted 7 innings, but by mutual agreement an extra inning was played under Premier12 rules that had both teams beginning their half of the inning with runners on first and second, a situation not used in the Japanese league (NPB). The teams also switched order for the extra frame. During the 7 inning game, Japan batted in the bottom half of the innings but they batted in the top half of the 8th. After Japan scored once in the top of the 8th, Hiroshima scored twice in the bottom half but the game continued until all three outs were made. Shoma Fujihira pitched the entire extra inning for Japan. Boxscore: https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/premier12/game/2021028961/stats
Samurai Japan Pre-tournament Camp highlights in Miyazaki Final day, Wednesday 6 November The Camp will now move to Nagoya and will play two exhibition games against Czechia this weekend.
Premier12 Highlights, Day 1 Saturday 9 November Group A Panama vs Netherlands Puerto Rico vs United States Venezuela vs Mexico
Premier12 Highlights, Day 2 Sunday 10 November Group A Venezuela vs Panama Netherlands vs United States Mexico vs Puerto Rico