The World Baseball Challenge is an international

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

competition based in

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, with a population of 74,004 in the metropolitan area. It is often called the province's "northern capital" or sometimes the "spruce capital" because it is the hub city for ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The tournament was established in 2002 by Larry Seminoff, who is also the founder of the

Grand Forks International The Grand Forks International (GFI) is an annual international invitational baseball tournament hosted at James Donaldson Park in Grand Forks, British Columbia. The GFI is the largest invitational baseball tournament in Canada and is a large p ...

History

The current incarnation of the event, beginning in 2009, has been held every two years at Citizen Field in

. It is sanctioned by the

International Baseball Federation The International Baseball Federation (IBAF; Spanish: ''Federación Internacional de Béisbol'', French: ''Fédération internationale de baseball'') is the former worldwide governing body recognized by the International Olympic Committee as over ...

Baseball Canada Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding te ...

and Baseball BC. The field of participants for the event typically consists of amateur or competitors such as the United States Collegiate National Team, the Cuban National baseball B squad, independent Canadian club teams and Japanese industrial clubs.

2009

Th
USA National Collegiate Baseball Team
defeated the German National Team by a score of 8–1 in the final.

Drew Pomeranz Thomas Andrew "Drew" Pomeranz (born November 22, 1988), nicknamed Big Smooth, is an American professional baseball pitcher for the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, ...

of the

University of Mississippi The University of Mississippi (byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment. ...

pitched a one-hitter against the tournament's only European team. German

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

Tim Henkenjohann was named the

Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the tournament. Team USA included several future

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

players, such as

Trevor Bauer Trevor Andrew Bauer (born January 17, 1991) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Indians, and Cincinnati Reds. Af ...

Gerrit Cole Gerrit Alan Cole (born September 8, 1990) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Houston Astros. Cole played for the baseball team ...

Yasmani Grandal Yasmani Grandal (born November 8, 1988) is a Cuban-born American professional baseball catcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Bre ...

Sonny Gray Sonny Douglas Gray (born November 7, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds. Gray attended ...

, Kolten Wong and Pomeranz. Canada, British Columbia, Prince George Axemen and the Bahamas National Team finished in third through sixth place respectively.

2011

Cuban National Baseball B Team defeated Chinese Taipei 10–5 in the final. The Cuban squad included future

American League Rookie of the Year In Major League Baseball, the Rookie of the Year Award is given annually to two outstanding rookie players, one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL), as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). The aw ...

José Abreu.

2013

The

Ciego de Ávila Tigres Ciego is a Spanish word meaning "blind". It may refer to: Places * Ciego de Ávila, a Cuban city, seat of the homonym province *Ciego de Ávila Province, a Cuban province *Arriete-Ciego Montero, a Cuban village in Cienfuegos Province Other *Ciego ...

of the

Cuban National Series The Cuban National Series (, SNB) is the primary domestic professional baseball competition in Cuba. Formed after the dissolution of the Cuban League in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, the Series is a part of the Cuban baseball league system. ...

defeated Japan's JX-ENEOS 14–4 by

mercy rule A mercy rule, slaughter rule, knockout rule, or skunk rule ends a two-competitor sports competition earlier than the scheduled endpoint if one competitor has a very large and presumably insurmountable scoring lead over the other. It is called th ...

in the championship game. Team USA, with a roster featuring players from the Northwest Collegiate Baseball League, finished third in its return to the tournament.

2016

In 2015, the event's organizers announced that that year's tournament would be postponed until 2016 due to a lack of sponsor support. Canada was to be represented by the Langley Blaze U18, facing the winners of Japan's

InterCity baseball tournament The intercity baseball tournament (都市対抗野球大会 ''Toshi Taikō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Summer All-star" (真夏の球宴 ''manatsu no kyūen''), is an annual nationwide inter-city baseball Baseball i ...

and players from th
Northwest Collegiate Baseball League
(Team USA). Teams from the Bahamas and Cuba were also expected to play in the tournament. The 2016 tournament is August 12–20, 2016.

Roswell Invaders Roswell may refer to: * Roswell incident Places in the United States * Roswell, Colorado, a former settlement now part of Colorado Springs * Roswell, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta * Roswell, Idaho * Roswell, New Mexico, known for the purported 1 ...

of the

Pecos League Pecos may refer to: Places * Pecos River, rises near Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States * Pecos, Texas, a city in Reeves County, Texas, United States * Pecos County, Texas, named for the Pecos River ** Pecos Spring, a spring * Pecos, New Mexico, ...

are one of two teams from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Other teams participating ar
Kamloops Sun DevilsSidearm Nation
(

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

), Team Japan and the Thurston County Senators (

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

) of the

Puget Sound Collegiate League Founded in 2010, the Puget Sound Collegiate League (PSCL) is a collegiate summer baseball league based in the Olympia, Washington area. The league also manages a summer youth league, camps and tournaments. In addition, a high school league, Pudge ...

. Team Japan went undefeated to capture the gold medal. They defeated

5–4 in the finale, scoring the winning run on a passed ball.

Tournament results

References

{{International Baseball

External links

World Baseball Challenge official website

@WorldBaseballPG Twitter
International baseball competitions hosted by Canada Recurring sporting events established in 2009 Baseball in British Columbia 2009 establishments in British Columbia

History

2009

2011

2013

2016

Tournament results

See also

References

External links