Baseball
This is the most dominant country in international baseball: Their national team holds the Olympic, WBC and Premier12 titles
The Championship final in the 2024 WBSC Premier12 tournament could see one nation continue their international baseball monopoly.
The United States may be the country most associated with baseball due to the huge success and popularity of Major League Baseball, but an entirely different nation has dominated international baseball in recent years and has the opportunity for more glory in the upcoming 2024 WBSC Premier12 Championship final.
Japan going for back-to-back Premier12 wins
Japan face Chinese Taipei at Tokyo Dome on Sunday, November 24, with the game starting at 5:00 a.m. ET. A few hours later, the hosts may have added yet more silverware to their ever-growing collection.
The Japanese are the defending Premier12 champions, having defeated inaugural winners South Korea in the final of the 2019 edition, also played at Tokyo Dome.
First Olympic gold medal
Two years later, Japan then won an Olympic gold medal in men’s baseball for the very first time on their sixth appearance. Again, the victory took place on home soil, although the final against the USA was played in Yokohama rather than Tokyo, which hosted the Games.
Baseball has had a consistently uneasy relationship with the Olympics, having been dropped from the schedule and then included again on numerous occasions. The sport didn’t feature in the 2024 Games in Paris, which means Japan are the most recent victors.
They will, however, have the chance to go for gold once more at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Ohtani leads Japan to WBC glory
Completing the hat-trick is the World Baseball Classic, which Japan have won a record three times. That includes the most recent edition, in which MLB star Shohei Ohtani was named MVP as he led his country to a 3-2 win over the United States in Miami.
Florida will again host the final stages of the next WBC in March 2026, which Japan will again be among the favourites to win. Will they do so as Premier12 champions? Recent history suggests so.
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