TOKYO – Four teams are left to battle for the title of Premier12 champions -- the international tournament that pits the top 12 ranked baseball nations against each other and has helped spur the career of many future Major Leaguers. The top two teams from each group -- Venezuela and

TOKYO -- It was easy for a young Japanese ace-in-the-making to slip under the radar at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. There was Shohei Ohtani, starting, relieving, and hammering baseballs all over the park. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was a year away from winning his third consecutive Sawamura Award as the best

TOKYO -- Move over, Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout. It’s time for a new chapter in the baseball rivalry between Japan and the United States, 611 days after the unforgettable conclusion to the 2023 World Baseball Classic. The global powerhouses meet Thursday at the Tokyo Dome (7 p.m. local, 5

Rich Hill, the ageless wonder, started the game on the mound. Forty-four years old and coaching his son's Little League team just a few short months ago, Hill was called upon to face rival Mexico in a must-win game if the United States wanted to advance to Tokyo for the

Roki Sasaki burst onto the scene in Japan as a 19-year-old in 2021, posting a 1.84 ERA over 16 starts. He bounded onto the world stage when he joined a star-studded Japanese rotation that included Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Now it looks like

Sixteen teams are in for the 2026 World Baseball Classic, and four spots remain for the main tournament. On Tuesday, the eight participating teams that will meet early next year in one of two Qualifiers were announced.

• 2026 World Baseball Classic pools and dates Four teams will play at

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There are plenty of names for prospect hounds to get excited about on USA Baseball's roster for the Premier12, a tournament which pits the top 12 ranked baseball nations against each other. Four top 100 prospects dot the squad, including No. 22 overall prospect Matt Shaw, Phillies outfield prospect Justin

Roki Sasaki, the ace Japanese right-hander, is poised to join a Major League Baseball organization before the 2025 season. The Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki's Nippon Professional Baseball team, announced that they will post the 23-year-old. Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, because he's under 25, Sasaki will qualify as an international

Ace Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki appears headed to the Majors next season. Sasaki, the consensus top young pitcher in Japan, will be posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball, the team announced. "Since I joined [the Marines], I have continued to listen to my future MLB challenges,

Thought baseball season was over? Did you watch the Dodgers parade through Los Angeles, champagne bubbling along the way and think you had to get through a baseball-free winter? Then, you’re in luck: There’s no such thing as a baseball offseason. Not when there's winter leagues around the globe: LIDOM

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE. The Premier12 tournament is here and play begins this weekend! Group A starts in

After Shohei Ohtani left Game 2 of the World Series with a shoulder injury, it wasn't just the Dodgers or Ohtani superfans who were worried about the superstar's health: Those at City Hall in Oshu, the rural Japanese town where Ohtani is originally from, were equally nervous. That's because the

Oshu City, part of the Iwate Prefecture, is a rural inland town in northern Japan. Famed for its Maesawa beef and historic temples and shrines, these days the city may be better known as the hometown of one Shohei Ohtani, baseball's biggest star. Head to its City Hall, and you'll

As the ball took off from Nick Castellanos' bat during the top of the ninth inning of last year's Braves-Phillies NLDS Game 2, arcing toward the warning track in right-center field, the crowd at Truist Park in Atlanta held its breath. A home run would put Philadelphia in the lead.

Four Top 100 prospects and three other players ranked in their respective organizations' top 10 were named to Team USA’s roster for the third World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12™ tournament presented by RAXUS, USA Baseball announced on Monday. The international tournament featuring the world’s 12 top-ranked teams will take

Fifty-three thousand fans pushed their way through the turnstiles for the must-win contest as the Dodgers and Padres played for their postseason survival last week in NLDS Game 5. Five thousand miles away, when the day was just beginning for fans in Japan, millions more woke up and flipped on

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- “If you're good, there is a scout somewhere that is watching and they're looking to find that next great talent.” A similar sentiment has often been espoused at all levels of the game for players waiting to break through with an opportunity to showcase their talent. David

On a brilliantly sunny day in Paris, two teams took to the courts. While the rest of the city was flooded with athletes and spectators for the Olympic Games, this wasn't part of the official program. This was a Baseball5 contest -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation's (WBSC) relatively new

As some clubs gear up for pennant races and others begin to look toward getting there themselves in 2025 and beyond, where they find commonality is in utilizing the international prospect market to help to build future success. Elly De La Cruz, arguably the Majors’ most electrifying player? An international

Every so often, Ichiro Suzuki pops up to show that he’s still got it. Last year, the baseball legend took the mound in his annual All-Star Game against the best high school girls players in Japan and threw a complete-game shutout on 116 pitches, striking out nine batters.

This is an excerpt from the latest edition of Michael Clair's International Beat Newsletter, bringing global baseball news to your inbox every month. Sign up for future installments HERE and check out the full newsletter HERE.

When you walk into The 108, you’re immediately steeped in baseball. MLB team banners line the center hallway. Turf from the 2019 Yankees-Red Sox London Series carpets the batting cages. You might see dads setting up batting practice or tossing grounders on the infield. Groups of teenagers, perhaps just looking