By Jason Daniels, contributing writer. Late in 2023, we covered everyone’s favorite new baseball relationship: the blossoming partnership between Japan and the Czech Republic. Going into 2024, tracking the impact of Czechia’s remarkable World Baseball Classic (WBC) success only felt right. This is all the more true as the baseball connection of the Central European country with Japan has only strengthened since then, and also because Czech baseball is focused on ever loftier goals. In following up, we take a deeper look into the nations’ cooperation which, tellingly, offers a glimpse into a mo ..read more

Team Japan defeated Team Europe in the first game of the Global Baseball Games series in Osaka on Wednesday, 5-0. The hosts jumped to an early lead after two first-inning runs and never looked back, with the Japanese pitching staff limiting the tourists to just six hits in front of 28,000 fans. The two-game series, last played in 2015, matches a roster of Europeans against Japan’s national team, winners of Olympic gold in Tokyo and 2023’s World Baseball Classic. While stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are missing on account of their MLB obligations, Japan’s roster still includes stars ..read more

What can we expect this year in the French D1? How did we get here to begin? And what’s next for baseball in France? Long-time D1 player and now manager, Owen Ozanich, breaks it down for us. By Jason Daniels. Ozanich has quickly left his mark in Montpellier. Photo credit: Montpellier Barracudas. The 2024 French Division I (D1) season is shaping up to be the most competitive in recent memory. A series of league changes and wider national developments have combined to make the upcoming year one of excitement and intrigue. To learn more, we spoke with Montpellier Barracudas manager, and reigning ..read more

By Gabriel Fidler, Managing Editor. One week prior to the European Baseball Championship, Myllypuro Baseball Field in Helsinki played host to the Nordic Baseball Cup, which crowned a de facto champion for Scandinavian hardball. The three-game event on 15–16 Sept. saw Sweden defeat Norway and Finland, while the Norwegian nine triumped over the hosts in an 11-inning thriller. The following weekend, a youth version of the tournament occurred as well. Various referred to as the Nordic Baseball Tournament, Nordic Baseball Challenge, and Baseball Nordics Tournament, the event continued the efforts ..read more

By Jason Daniels. It has been a bumper year for Czech baseball, and the milestones keep coming following Czechia’s ground-breaking run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. At the conclusion of the WBC this March, Czech and Japanese baseball authorities began cultivating a partnership to establish long-term cooperation between the two nations. Few would have seen this coming at the tournament’s start. Eight months later, the fruits of this unlikely friendship continue to make themselves noticeable. “The WBC was definitely the beginning of this collaboration,” says Lukáš Ercoli, Head of Communica ..read more

The third annual European Winter League (EWL) has commenced in Tenerife, Spain, with 52 athletes from 13 European countries practicing and competing under the Spanish sun between Nov 18 and Nov 26. The week-long event, organized by WBSC Europe with the co-operation of both the Royal Spanish Baseball and Softball Federation and the local Canary Islands Baseball and Softball Federation, will see the players dividied into three teams, with a series of practicies followed by seven games. As is to be expected, Spanish prospects are the most numerous at the event (17), with Bulgaria a surprising sec ..read more

The penultimate day of the WBSC Youth Baseball5 World Cup confirmed the final positions from 5-12 with just the final between Cuba and France and the bronze medal game between Türkiye and Mexico still to play. At the end of Super Round play, China took fifth place, with Taiwan finishing sixth. The Placement Round was also completed with Ghana, Tunisia, Korea, Australia, Malaysia, and Zambia finishing in the positions seven to 12 respectively. The first game was between the France and China. The Red Dragons took the first match, 4-1. Then, the No. 2 team in the world, France, had to work hard ..read more

France booked its spot in the final of the Youth Baseball5 World Cup in Ankara, Türkiye, after the first day’s play of the Super Round on Friday. Meanwhile, fellow European representative Türkiye also confirmed its place in the bronze medal game. In another superb day of Baseball5 action, the day’s most anticipated match between France and Cuba lived up to its billing as the two unbeaten teams went head to head before Cuba ran out 11-1, 7-4 winners. The two will have a much-anticipated rematch in the final on Sunday due to Cuba’s 4-0, 3-0 defeat of Taiwan in its second match of the day and Fr ..read more

After an intense last day of Opening Round play in Ankara, Türkiye, the final four teams to advance to the Youth Baseball5 World Cup Super Round were confirmed, while the remaining six nations will compete in the Placement Round. World No. 1 Taiwan, No. 12 Mexico, No. 24 Türkiye, and No. 26 China joined France and Cuba in the Super Round. The morning session of Day 3 started with two intense games between China and host team Türkiye, starting with a classic matchup that ended, after two extra innings, in favour of Türkiye, 10-9. The rubber match was a nailbiter as well, finishing 8-6. Türkiye ..read more

Unbeaten France and Cuba booked Super Round spots at the Youth Baseball5 World Cup on Day Two. France beat Chinese Taipei in the feature game of the day between the top two ranked teams in the world. Day Three on Thursday will feature 10 more Opening Round games to determine the top three teams in each group, who will advance to the Super Round. Both World No. 2 France and Cuba, ranked sixth in the world, are unbeaten with four wins from as many games. Each will finish the Opening Round on Thursday with one game each, against Australia and Malaysia respectively. The chase for the two remainin ..read more