Junior League World Series

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Junior League World Series
Most recent season or competition:
2023 Junior League World Series
SportBaseball
Founded1981
No. of teams12
CountryInternational
Venue(s)Heritage Park
Most recent
champion(s)
Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan
Most titles Taiwan (9)
Official websiteLittleLeague.org

The Junior League World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 12, 13, and 14 years old.[1] The tournament is held annually at Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan. It is patterned after the Little League World Series, which was named for the World Series in Major League Baseball.

The Junior League World Series is one of eleven tournaments sponsored by Little League International. Each of them brings baseball or softball teams from around the world together in one of four age divisions. The tournament structure for each division's World Series is similar to that used for the Little League Baseball World Series.

Tournament history[edit]

The tournament started in 1981, and was originally created for 13-year-old players competing in Little League's Senior League division (which at the time included 13- to 15-year-olds). In 1999, Little league spun a separate Junior League division off from the Senior League division, which included 13- and 14-year-old players (currently, 15-year-olds are also eligible if their date of birth is after May 1 of the current season). Unlike the Little League World Series — which has sixteen regions (eight in the U.S. and eight international) — the Junior League World Series has only twelve regions.[2] The twelve regional champions are divided into two pools (USA and International). The two best teams from each pool advance to the semi-finals, to determine the US champion and the International champion. The semi-final winners play for the World Series Championship. The losing teams face off in classification games.

Originally only US teams played in the tournament. As time progressed, however, international teams began to participate. The Puerto Rico Region was established as the first international region, in 1982. The Mexico Region followed in 1986, the Canada Region in 1988, the first European team in 1990, and the Australia Region in 2016. Prior to 2000, the Mexico and Puerto Rico regions each received automatic berths into the tournament. In 2000, a Latin America Region was formed and included the former Mexico and Puerto Rico regions. Starting in 2004, the Mexico Region now receives an automatic berth to the tournament in even-numbered years, while the Puerto Rico Region receives an automatic berth in odd-numbered years. (Each year, the teams from the region without an automatic berth instead participate in the Latin America Region tournament.)[3] From 1985–89 the Michigan state champion received a slot as the Host Team. In 2018, the Host Team was brought back to the tournament as the sixth United States region.

The six United States regions are:

The six International regions are:

Junior League World Series Wall of Champions at the field in Heritage Park

List of champions[edit]

Year Winner Region Score Runner–Up Region
1981 Ohio Boardman, Ohio Central 4–0 Virginia Richmond, Virginia South
1982 Florida Tampa, Florida South 6–1 Illinois Libertyville, Illinois Central
1983 Puerto Rico Manatí, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 3–0 Florida Altamonte Springs, Florida South
1984 Hawaii Pearl City, Hawaii West 7–5 Puerto Rico Yabucoa, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
1985 Florida Tampa, Florida South 10–3 Maryland Salisbury, Maryland East
1986 Maryland Waldorf, Maryland East 4–3 Ohio Athens County, Ohio Central
1987 California Rowland Heights, Southern California West 16–4 & 14–3 New York (state) Wappinger, New York East
1988 Mexico Mexicali, Mexico Mexico 11–6 Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii West
1989 Puerto Rico Manatí, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 2–9 & 9–2 Georgia (U.S. state) Toccoa, Georgia South
1990 Puerto Rico Yabucoa, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 6–4 Texas San Antonio, Texas South
1991 Texas Spring, Texas South 2–7 & 7–1 Nevada Henderson, Nevada West
1992 Arizona Tucson, Arizona West 8–1 & 5–4 Louisiana Lake Charles, Louisiana South
1993 Puerto Rico Cayey, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 9–1 Mexico Reynosa, Mexico Mexico
1994 California Thousand Oaks, Southern California West 20–3 Ohio Hamilton, Ohio Central
1995 Louisiana Lake Charles, Louisiana South 3–4 & 8–2 California Northridge, Southern California West
1996 Texas Spring, Texas South 7–5 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West
1997 New Hampshire Salem, New Hampshire East 4–1 California Mission Viejo, Southern California West
1998 California Mission Viejo, Southern California West 6–2 & 9–6 Texas Waco, Texas South
1999 Puerto Rico Arroyo, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 1–0 Mexico Hermosillo, Mexico Mexico
2000 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West 2–1 Canada Langley, Canada Canada
2001 Hawaii Aiea, Hawaii West 6–5 Venezuela San Francisco, Venezuela Latin America
2002 Georgia (U.S. state) Cartersville, Georgia South 3–2 Panama David, Panama Latin America
2003 California La Mirada, Southern California West 8–7 Panama Santiago, Panama Latin America
2004 Florida Tampa, Florida South 5–2 Venezuela Punto Fijo, Venezuela Latin America
2005 Panama Panama City, Panama Latin America 3–0 Florida Tarpon Springs, Florida South
2006 Texas El Campo, East Texas Southwest 2–1 Mexico Guaymas, Mexico Mexico
2007 Hawaii Pearl City, Hawaii West 6–2 Philippines Makati, Philippines Asia–Pacific
2008 Curaçao Willemstad, Curaçao Latin America 5–2 Hawaii Hilo, Hawaii West
2009 Arizona Scottsdale, Arizona West 9–1 Aruba Oranjestad, Aruba Latin America
2010 Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Texas Tyler, East Texas Southwest
2011 Florida Tampa, Florida Southeast 2–1 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific
2012 Florida Rockledge, Florida Southeast 12–10 Aruba Oranjestad, Aruba Latin America
2013 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 11–2 Arizona Rio Rico, Arizona West
2014 Taiwan Taichung, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Texas Corpus Christi, West Texas Southwest
2015 Taiwan Taichung, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 12–0 Virginia Stephens City, Virginia Southeast
2016 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 9–1 Hawaii Kapaa, Hawaii West
2017 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 12–1(F/5) Pennsylvania Kennett Square, Pennsylvania East
2018 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 2–0 Texas Lufkin, East Texas Southwest
2019 California Fullerton, Southern California West 8–3 Puerto Rico Guayama, Puerto Rico Puerto Rico
2020 Cancelled due to COVID-19 crisis[4]
2021 Cancelled due to COVID-19 crisis
2022 Taiwan Taichung, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 7–1 Texas Corpus Christi, West Texas Southwest
2023 Taiwan Taoyuan, Taiwan Asia–Pacific 6–0 Michigan Taylor, Michigan Host
Year Winner Region Score Runner–Up Region

Championships won by country/state[edit]

Team Championships Last
Taiwan Taiwan 9 2023
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 5 1999
Florida Florida 2012
California Southern California 2019
Hawaii Hawaii 4 2007
Texas Texas 3 2006
Arizona Arizona 2 2009
Ohio Ohio 1 1981
Maryland Maryland 1986
Mexico Mexico 1988
Louisiana Louisiana 1995
New Hampshire New Hampshire 1997
Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia 2002
Panama Panama 2005
Curaçao Curaçao 2008

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Junior League Baseball. Little League. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  2. ^ 2010 Junior League Regional Tournaments and World Series Results Archived February 22, 2014, at the Wayback Machine. Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  3. ^ "History of the Junior League Baseball World Series | City of Taylor". Archived from the original on August 28, 2012. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  4. ^ "Little League® Cancels 2020 World Series and Region Tournaments". April 30, 2020.

External links[edit]