WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Review: Japan’s women’s baseball dominance continues with seventh consecutive World Title

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Yesterday 08:13

When the curtains came down on another successful <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-ix-womens-baseball-world-cup-finals/home">WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup</a> in Thunder Bay, Canada on Saturday, not only were fans walking away with a vision of the exciting future ahead for international women's baseball, but also of the impressive dynasty, Japan continues to build.

The No. 1 team in the world, reaffirmed their reign in women’s baseball with an <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-ix-womens-baseball-world-cup-finals/news/2024-women-baseball-world-cup-world-championship-final-jpn-usa">11-6 triumph</a> over the United States in the final at Port Arthur Stadium, marking their seventh consecutive World Championship title.

After progressing through the Group Stage unbeaten last year, both Japan and USA blazed through the Final Stage games with flawless 4-0 records, setting the scene for a showdown to determine home team advantage in the World Championship final. USA narrowly claimed that privilege by edging Japan 4-3 in an intense extra-innings battle - breaking Japan's 39-game, 12-year winning run. However, the six-time champions regained their footing on Saturday in the decisive rematch to capture their seventh World Title.

Japan has been the undisputed leader in women’s baseball since winning their first World Title in 2008 while for two-time champions USA, their second-place finish represents, not only their third silver medal and first podium finish since 2014 but significant progress and the start of something special according to manager Veronica Alvarez.

"It's a big accomplishment. We hadn't been in a big tournament since 2018, and in 2018, we didn't even medal," Alvarez told the WBSC. "Competing against Japan and beating them in the opening round is a big deal. The women have bought into the program; they really applied, getting better and better every year."

Notably, only the United States and Japan have won the World

Title in the nine editions of the tournament. Japan has claimed the last seven

titles, while the USA secured the first two in 2004 in Edmonton, Canada, and in

2006 in Taipei City, Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Canada's bronze medal performance mirrored their success from the last edition in 2018 and fifth third-place finish overall.

As the youngest team in the tournament, Canada showcased their potential for greater things to come and are already looking forward to start of the next edition in 2026 when the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup 2026/2027 Group Stage begins.

Other highlights included a brilliant performance from Mexico, who were making their WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup debut, to finish fourth while France, who were also making their first appearance, finished 11th.

The new two-stage format also proved successful over the two years with good spectator numbers and fan engagement across the two groups in the Group Stage last year - Thunder Bay (CAN) and Miyoshi City (JPN) - and the Finals in Thunder Bay.

WBSC Women’s Baseball World Cup Review: Japan’s women’s baseball dominance continues with seventh consecutive World Title

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