Ten things to know about the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024

The WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024 is set to open on Friday at Shaoxing Baseball and Softball Sports Culture Center. Twelve teams from five continents will compete for the title of World Champion. A total of fifty games will be played, and Japan will be seeking their first back-to-back title.

Check out 10 things you should know about the tournament.

1.- China (World No. 24) and Great Britain (World No. 18) will make their debuts in the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup. With their participation, 22 nations/territories will have participated in the tournament since its inception in 2014. They will also play against each other on the opening day on 6 September.

2 - Shaoxing will be the first city in mainland China to ever host a WBSC Baseball World Cup. Shaoxing Baseball Softball Culture Center was the venue for the baseball and softball games of the Asian Games Hangzhou in 2022.

3 - This will also be the third time the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup will be staged on an artificial turf venue (the first was at Edgar Renteria Stadium in Colombia in 2018, and the second was at Tianmu Baseball Stadium in 2022).

4 - This will be the largest tournament ever held at Shaoxing Baseball Softball Culture Center in terms of the number of teams (12), continents represented (5), and games played (50).

5 - Nine out of 12 participating teams have returned from the last edition of the U-23 Baseball World Cup, with Nicaragua returning to the tournament for the first time since the 2020 (played in 2021) edition. Among the participating teams in this year’s tournament, a total of 15 medals have been won, with Japan winning two gold medals and Chinese Taipei, Mexico, and Venezuela each winning one gold medal.

6 - Japan have at least won a silver medal in every edition participated in (4). In the tournament's history, Japan has won two gold medals (2016, 2022) and two silver medals (2014, 2018). In 2022, tournament MVP Ryusei Gonda was drafted by NPB Orix Buffaloes, and the Best Pitcher, Ren Tomida, was drafted by NPB Hanshin Tigers.

7 - Korea has won three medals out of five appearances, with one silver medal (2022) and two bronze medals (2014, 2016).

8 - Among the participating teams in this year's tournament, only Korea, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela have played in all WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup editions (including the WBSC U-21 Baseball World Cup in 2014). These three teams have won seven medals in the tournament's history.

9 - Shaoxing, having been established in 490 B.C., is the oldest hosting city among the hosting cities of all editions of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup (Monterrey, Hermosillo, Barranquilla, Taipei and Taichung).

10 - In addition to GameTime, the official streaming channel of the WBSC, which will stream all fifty games, selected games of WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2024 can be seen online via CCTV Sports, Tencent Sports, TikTok Sports, Kuaishou Sports, Sina Sports, Weibo Sports, Migu Video, Weifeng Baseball, China Interactive Sports, and Huya.com. Tianjin Television will also carry selected games on its channel.