International Baseball 2019

Awesome Fossum

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
3,898
Austin, TX
2019 is a light year, with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2021 World Baseball Classic being the next big events. We do have the 2019 Pan Am games, but I was a little surprised to see women's baseball dropped and a lot surprised to see USA apparently not participating in the men's tournament?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_at_the_2019_Pan_American_Games

Four spots are filled (host Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and Cuba) with the remaining four to be filled at a qualifier later this month in Brazil. The participants are Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Venezuela.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Pan_American_Games_Qualifier

Why would USA not take part? @Orel Miraculous ?
 

Awesome Fossum

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
3,898
Austin, TX
The answer, in case anyone cares, via sportsnet.ca.

The United States is taking a pass on both tournaments since there won’t be any Olympic berths up for grabs at the Pan Ams. Rather, the top finisher among teams from the Americas at November’s Premier12 tournament will qualify for Tokyo, with two other chances to book one of the six spots for 2020 to follow afterwards.
What's Premier12, you might not be asking? Via Wikipedia:

The WBSC Premier12 (also "Premier 12 Baseball World Cup") is the flagship international baseball tournament organized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), featuring the twelve best-ranked national baseball teams in the world. The first tournament was held in Taiwan and Japan in November 2015. ...

It was viewed as a spiritual successor to the Baseball World Cup and an attempt to boost baseball's bid for inclusion in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. ...

The field of the tournament consists of the twelve best national teams in the world according to the most recent WBSC World Rankings. The following twelve national teams have been chosen to participate in the 2019 WBSC Premier12:

#1 Japan
#2 United States
#3 South Korea
#4 Chinese Taipei
#5 Cuba
#6 Mexico
#7 Australia
#8 Netherlands
#9 Venezuela
#10 Canada
#11 Puerto Rico
#12 Dominican Republic
Looks like the 2019 version will, at least in part, be played in Japan.