2024 in Review: A Premier12 for the Ages highlights superb International Baseball Year

The 2024 international baseball season began and ended in Japan. In March, Osaka hosted the second edition of the Global Baseball Games, and in November, Tokyo celebrated the third Premier12 Finals. During the summer, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) awarded the Women's, U-15, and U-23 Baseball World Champion titles. Japan won all three.

A Premier12 for the Ages

The Tokyo Dome has hosted the Championship Game of all three editions of the WBSC Premier12. Unfortunately for Japanese fans, they resulted in two disappointments. Korea beat Samurai Japan in the inaugural edition's semifinal, and Chinese Taipei overcame the hosts in the 2024 final. Still, the organisers will mark the Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS as a huge success. The last day of the Super Round and the Finals Day welcomed a combined total of 83,501 fans. The Championship Game had an attendance of almost 42,000, outnumbering the World Baseball Classic 2023 final, which had a 36,000 attendance in Miami, USA.

What made the third WBSC Premier12 a unique event was the passion. It resulted in intense and spectacular games and was mirrored by the enthusiastic fans in the stands. The event attracted unprecedented media attention as well with the WBSC issuing more than 600 accreditations throughout the tournament.

The Premier12 2024 showcased seasoned players like Major League Baseball (MLB) veteran Rich Hitt as well as top prospects. The youngest player, Cuba's Dario Sarduy, was born in 2005. The average age of the Premier12 2024 was just under 28 years. Korea (24 years and eight months) was the youngest team, just under Japan (25 years and nine months), Puerto Rico (26 years and nine months) and Chinese Taipei (27 years and four months). In the Premier12 2019, the average age was just over 31

It all started in Japan

The 2024 International Baseball Season opened on March 6 and 7 in Osaka, Japan. World No. 1 Japan hosted Team Europe for the second edition of the Global Baseball Games. Japan shut out the European All-Star team managed by Italy's Marco Mazzieri (5-0, 2-0). The Kyocera Dome welcomed over 53,000 fans for the event.

A Baseball World Cup in China

China had never hosted a Baseball World Cup and World No. 20 China had never won a Baseball World Cup medal. Shaoxing witnessed both milestones from September 6 to 15 at the end of a successful WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup. The historical city with a history dating back 2,500 years hosted the event in the Shaoxing Baseball Softball Culture Center, a state-of-the-art facility built for the 2022 Asian Games. The tournament made a massive impression on China, with a record number of broadcasters carrying the event in the country.
Japan defeated Puerto Rico in the final, while China beat Nicaragua in the bronze medal game.

The first Women's Baseball World Champions since 2018

Having last awarded the Women's Baseball World Title in 2018 (to Japan), the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup was a brand new tournament in 2023/2024 with a two-stage format, which allows more programmes to participate and more hosts to stage the premier international women's baseball tournament in the world. The World Champions were not new. Japan beat the United States in front of over 2,000 fans at Port Arthur Stadium in Thunder Bay, Canada, to win their seventh successive Women's Baseball World Cup title.

The hosts, Canada, claimed their second consecutive bronze medal.

The Group Stage and the Finals of the IX Women's Baseball World Cup became part of the "See her, be her" documentary produced by Grassroots Baseball.

Japan on top of the U-15 Baseball World

After winning the II Premier12 (2019), the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (2021), the U-23 Baseball World Cup (2022), the U-18 Baseball World Cup and the World Baseball Classic (2023), Japan climbed to the top of the U-15 Baseball World, defeating Puerto Rico on August 26 in the final of the WBSC U-15 Baseball World Cup 2024.

Since 2012, when the tournament changed the age bracket from U-16 to U-15, it was the first title for Japan and the first time Colombia hosted the event.

All in all, another ground-breaking year for international baseball, which continues to ride the wave of unprecedent popularity. Such is the interest in global baseball, the WBSC announced in October the expansion of the Premier12 to 16 teams in 2027, highlighting the success of the WBSC’s top event and international baseball in general.