The story of one of the best rivalry in worldwide baseball

USA and Japan’s Little League baseball rivalry

n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”},”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”**3. 2001: Kitasuna LL (Tokyo) def. National LL (Apopka, Fla.), 2-1**nnKitasuna Little League has introduced residence 4 LLWS titles within the twenty first century, greater than any _country_ 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.nnIn entrance of a crowd that featured President George W. Bush, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch, the Florida team jumped to a 1-0 lead on a second-inning single from Jeff LoveJoy. For the majority of a stellar pitchers’ duel that featured complete games from both Japan’s Atsushi Mochizuki and Florida’s Justin LaFavers, it looked like that sole run would be enough to bring home Florida’s first LLWS championship.nnBut in the bottom of the sixth inning, two Florida errors led to Japan having two runners in scoring position. From there, Nobuhisa Baba lined a walk-off two-run single into left discipline, Japan’s second consecutive recreation through which it scored two runs within the backside half of the final inning to outlive (additionally a 2-1 semifinal win over Curacao).nnTo at the present time, no league from Florida has received the LLWS, as such groups are 0-8 within the championship recreation.”,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content material”:”**4. 1998: East American LL (Toms River, NJ) def. Kashima LL, 12-9**nnThe remainder of this checklist options video games that have been largely outlined by their pitching and protection, however this recreation was something however.nnEventual 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 through which all six innings featured at the least one staff scoring. Though New Jersey led 3-0 after the highest of the primary, Japan had a 4-3 lead by the top of the third, and the fireworks have been solely simply starting.nnNew 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 getting 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.”,”kind”:”textual content”,”__typename”:”OEmbed”,”html”:”

In 2015, Todd Frazier was the primary Little League grad to win the #HRDerby. Who will win this 12 months? Find out tonight at 8 p.m. on @espn! pic.twitter.com/iNVsZGZ84h

— Little League (@LittleLeague) July 10, 2017

nn”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”https://twitter.com”,”type”:”oembed”,”width”:550,”contentType”:”rich”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”Frazier, who completed 4-for-4 within the recreation, later returned to Williamsport when he performed within the MLB Little League Classic with the Mets in 2018, simultaneously celebrating the 20-year reunion of his own LLWS title. That Mets-Phillies game featured fellow LLWS alumni Michael Conforto and Scott Kingery.”,”type”:”text”,”__typename”:”Markdown”,”content”:”**5. 2006: Northern LL (Columbus, Ga.) def. Kawaguchi City LL, 2-1**nnThe first Georgia-Japan title showdown didn’t feature the walk-off heroics that were seen in 2007. But when a game includes a future MLB player, a complete-game gem by the winning pitcher, and an eventual one-run decision, it’s hard to complain too much.nnThe game was scoreless until the top 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.nnJapan was capable of lower the lead in half within the backside of the third inning on a single from beginning pitcher Go Matsumoto, nevertheless it was the Kyle Carter present from there. The ace completed a whole recreation with 11 strikeouts to hold Georgia to victory, turning into the primary, and nonetheless solely, pitcher to win 4 video games in a single LLWS.”,”kind”:”textual content”],”contentType”:”news”,”subHeadline”:null,”abstract”:”You surely remember the instant classic World Baseball Classic championship game in March, when Shohei Ohtani struck out Mike Trout to seal Japan’s win. You might also be aware that Team USA and Japan have faced off in four of the five Classics, with one of those teams going on”,”tagline(“formatString”:”none”)”:null,”tags”:[“__typename”:”InternalTag”,”slug”:”storytype-article”,”title”:”Article”,”type”:”article”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”apple-news”,”title”:”Apple News”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”ContributorTag”,”slug”:”cole-jacobson”,”title”:”Cole Jacobson”,”type”:”contributor”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”llws”,”title”:”Little League World Series”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”little-league”,”title”:”Little League”,”type”:”taxonomy”,”__typename”:”PersonTag”,”slug”:”playerid-668472″,”title”:”Nick Pratto”,”person”:”__ref”:”Person:668472″,”type”:”player”,”__typename”:”PersonTag”,”slug”:”playerid-453943″,”title”:”Todd Frazier”,”person”:”__ref”:”Person:453943″,”type”:”player”,”__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”evergreen”,”title”:”evergreen”,”type”:”taxonomy”],”kind”:”story”,”thumbnail”:”https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/formatInstructions/mlb/xpefr20su1qr9kulcxnl”,”title”:”USA and Japan’s Little League baseball rivalry”}},”Team:843″:”__typename”:”Team”,”id”:843,”Team:108″:”__typename”:”Team”,”id”:108,”Person:660271″:”__typename”:”Person”,”id”:660271,”Person:545361″:”__typename”:”Person”,”id”:545361,”Person:668472″:”__typename”:”Person”,”id”:668472,”Person:453943″:”__typename”:”Person”,”id”:453943}}
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But what you seemingly don’t know is that one of the best rivalry in worldwide baseball goes far past the inception of the WBC in 2006. In reality, the rivalry has its deepest historical past on the Little League fields of Williamsport, Pa.

Since 1976, the match has been arrange with separate U.S. and International brackets, due to this fact guaranteeing a championship recreation that includes an American staff and a global staff. 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 possibly can 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 match 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 in opposition to USA in title video games, as Japan’s 11 complete 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 in opposition to Japanese squads.

Ahead of this 12 months’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 laborious to prime the drama of an extra-innings walk-off residence run. And that’s precisely what Dalton Carriker offered 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 capable of 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 12 months through which groups from Georgia and Japan confronted off within the title recreation, although these squads each got here from completely 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 properly 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 recreation, California has three extra championships than every other U.S. state, and greater than twice as many as any nation moreover the U.S., Taiwan or Japan. A California staff has confronted a Japanese staff within the title recreation 3 times, and this was one of the best 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 residence run to proper discipline.

That ultimately set the stage for the state of affairs each child desires of: tie recreation, 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 deliver residence the championship.

3. 2001: Kitasuna LL (Tokyo) def. National LL (Apopka, Fla.), 2-1

Kitasuna Little League has introduced residence 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 staff 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 regarded like that sole run could be sufficient to deliver residence 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 discipline, Japan’s second consecutive recreation through which it scored two runs within the backside half of the final inning to outlive (additionally a 2-1 semifinal win over Curacao).

To at the present time, no league from Florida has received the LLWS, as such groups are 0-8 within the championship recreation.

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 recreation 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 through which all six innings featured at the least one staff scoring. Though New Jersey led 3-0 after the highest of the primary, Japan had a 4-3 lead by the top 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 getting 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 recreation features a future MLB participant, a complete-game gem by the profitable pitcher, and an eventual one-run determination, it’s laborious to complain an excessive amount of.

The recreation 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 capable of lower the lead in half within the backside of the third inning on a single from beginning pitcher Go Matsumoto, nevertheless it was the Kyle Carter present from there. The ace completed a whole recreation with 11 strikeouts to hold Georgia to victory, turning into the primary, and nonetheless solely, pitcher to win 4 video games in a single LLWS.

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