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But what you probably don’t know is that the perfect rivalry in worldwide baseball goes far past the inception of the WBC in 2006. In truth, the rivalry has its deepest historical past on the Little League fields of Williamsport, Pa.
Since 1976, the event has been arrange with separate U.S. and International brackets, due to this fact making certain a championship sport that includes an American crew and a world crew. And whereas Chinese Taipei was dominant for a lot of the mid-late twentieth century, over the previous 25 years, there have been two clear titans whose names you may most likely guess: USA and Japan.
Just how far forward of the sphere have these two been? Since 1998, right here’s the leaderboard of LLWS championships by nation:
USA – 13
Japan – 8
Venezuela – 1
South Korea – 1
Curacao – 1
As these rankings recommend, it comes all the way down to USA-Japan for all of the marbles most of the time. In the 24 tournaments held over that point span (no event in 2020), there have been 13 USA-Japan championship video games, with Japan going 8-5 in such matchups. If we embody all of LLWS historical past, Japan jumps to 11-5 towards USA in title video games, as Japan’s 11 whole championships rank third all-time behind USA and Chinese Taipei.
And these championship video games are excessive in high quality along with their amount. Six of the 16 all-time USA-Japan title video games have been determined by one run, with 5 of these six coming within the twenty first century. Future MLB gamers, together with however not restricted to Todd Frazier, Colby Rasmus and Nick Pratto, have been a part of LLWS championship video games towards Japanese squads.
Ahead of this yr’s LLWS, which is able to start on Aug. 16, we rank the highest 5 USA-Japan showdowns in LLWS historical past.
1. 2007: American Little League (Columbus, Ga.) def. Kitasuna LL (Tokyo), 3-2 (eight innings)
No matter the age group in query, it’s onerous to prime the drama of an extra-innings walk-off house run. And that’s precisely what Dalton Carriker supplied in a 2-2 ballgame within the backside of the eighth inning, bringing a championship to his Georgia squad (Little League video games usually final six innings).
Georgia went down 2-0 within the second inning, however was in a position to tie the sport within the backside of that body because of a double from beginning pitcher Keaton Allen. From there, each pitching staffs have been dominant, particularly together with 10 strikeouts in five-plus scoreless aid innings from Georgia’s Kendall Scott, setting the stage for Carriker’s heroics.
Coincidentally, this was the second straight yr during which groups from Georgia and Japan confronted off within the title sport, although these squads each got here from totally different cities than the 2007 groups did. You’ll learn extra about that one later. Until then …
2. 2011: Ocean View LL (Huntington Beach, Calif.) def. Hamamatsu Minami LL (Hamamatsu City), 2-1
Japan’s standing as a Little League powerhouse has been effectively established on this article already, however California is on a equally elite tier. With seven LLWS titles, the newest of which got here on this 2011 sport, California has three extra championships than another U.S. state, and greater than twice as many as any nation moreover the U.S., Taiwan or Japan. A California crew has confronted a Japanese crew within the title sport thrice, and this was the perfect of these three.
Braydon Salzman pitched a complete-game three-hitter for California, with Japan’s solely run approaching a throwing error within the prime of the third. In the underside half of that body, present Blue Jays pitcher Hagen Danner cranked a game-tying house run to proper subject.
That finally set the stage for the state of affairs each child goals of: tie sport, bases loaded, two outs, backside of the final inning. And in that spot, present Royals first baseman Nick Pratto — whose father, Jeff, was the California supervisor — got here up clutch together with his third hit of the day to carry house the championship.
3. 2001: Kitasuna LL (Tokyo) def. National LL (Apopka, Fla.), 2-1
Kitasuna Little League has introduced house 4 LLWS titles within the twenty first century, greater than any nation moreover Japan/USA in that span, and the identical quantity because the main U.S. state in that span (Hawaii). The first of these 4 titles got here in 2001, and it got here by the pores and skin of their enamel.
In entrance of a crowd that featured President George W. Bush, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch, the Florida crew jumped to a 1-0 lead on a second-inning single from Jeff LoveJoy. For nearly all of a stellar pitchers’ duel that featured full video games from each Japan’s Atsushi Mochizuki and Florida’s Justin LaFavers, it seemed like that sole run can be sufficient to carry house Florida’s first LLWS championship.
But within the backside of the sixth inning, two Florida errors led to Japan having two runners in scoring place. From there, Nobuhisa Baba lined a walk-off two-run single into left subject, Japan’s second consecutive sport during which it scored two runs within the backside half of the final inning to outlive (additionally a 2-1 semifinal win over Curacao).
To this present day, no league from Florida has gained the LLWS, as such groups are 0-8 within the championship sport.
4. 1998: East American LL (Toms River, NJ) def. Kashima LL, 12-9
The remainder of this checklist options video games that have been largely outlined by their pitching and protection, however this sport was something however.
Eventual two-time MLB All-Star and 2015 Home Run Derby champion Todd Frazier led off the sport with a house run, setting the tone for a slugfest during which all six innings featured at the very least one crew scoring. Though New Jersey led 3-0 after the highest of the primary, Japan had a 4-3 lead by the tip of the third, and the fireworks have been solely simply starting.
New Jersey scored 5 runs within the subsequent two innings to take an 8-4 lead. Japan had a four-run fifth inning which tied the rating at 8 coming into the ultimate body. New Jersey responded with its personal four-run inning within the prime of the sixth to go up 12-8, and from there, it was none aside from Frazier himself who pitched the ultimate inning, ending off New Jersey’s 12-9 triumph.
5. 2006: Northern LL (Columbus, Ga.) def. Kawaguchi City LL, 2-1
The first Georgia-Japan title showdown didn’t characteristic the walk-off heroics that have been seen in 2007. But when a sport features a future MLB participant, a complete-game gem by the successful pitcher, and an eventual one-run choice, it’s onerous to complain an excessive amount of.
The sport was scoreless till the highest of the third. Josh Lester, who has performed for the Tigers and Orioles since 2022, singled, and he was then pushed in by a two-run shot from Cody Walker.
Japan was in a position to lower the lead in half within the backside of the third inning on a single from beginning pitcher Go Matsumoto, however it was the Kyle Carter present from there. The ace completed a whole sport with 11 strikeouts to hold Georgia to victory, changing into the primary, and nonetheless solely, pitcher to win 4 video games in a single LLWS.
