After an enforced one-year postponement due to the Covid pandemic, the WBSC Premier12 has been a tremendous success and showcased the true global power of international baseball.
Starting in Guadalajara and Tepic and moving to Taipei City, Nagoya, and Tokyo, the tournament featured incredible games, large crowds and epic moments.
Chinese Taipei’s memorable victory in the final over two-time champions Japan was an amazing evening as they shut out the hosts in front of a packed crowd of 41,000, which included an amazing 6,000 travelling supporters, in the Tokyo Dome. This win is a testament to the hard work and investment of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, who is a valued partner of the WBSC.
The tournament's success was further enhanced by the efforts of all three local organizing committees in Mexico, Taiwan and Japan in creating a top-tier environment for both players and fans, ensuring that the quality of international baseball was on full display. The high-level broadcast coverage and media support also helped elevate the tournament to a global audience.
The international baseball scene is thriving, with major events like the World Cups, Premier12 and the World Baseball Classic contributing to the sport’s growth. Players’ passion for representing their countries was evident throughout the tournament, with emotions running high from Chinese Taipei’s victory to the disappointment of teams as they were eliminated.
International baseball now boasts a strong calendar of major events, which further strengthens its global appeal. The calendar offers exciting opportunities for all our stakeholders and we have an exciting agenda ahead with the qualifiers for the next edition of the WBSC Premier12, the World Baseball Classic and the LA28 Olympic Games coming up.
Such is the success of the WBSC Premier12, we have expanded the WBSC’s flagship tournament to 16 teams in 2027 with eight teams chasing four spots in two qualification tournaments in 2026.
The game itself also continues to evolve, with both skill levels and competitiveness among national teams reaching new heights, and we are proud of giving more athletes and more national federations the chance to participate in world class events and the qualification process for the LA28 Olympic Games
As baseball looks forward to continuing its Olympic Games journey in Los Angeles in 2028, our sport is definitely on an exciting upward trajectory, fueled by the great success of the WBSC Premier12 and the broader international baseball calendar.
