The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United States. Because it is a world championship, the results of the U-18 Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.
Several players who have participated in the U-18 Baseball World Cup have gone on to stardom at the professional level, including Japan's Yu Darvish, USA's Clayton Kershaw, Francisco Lindor and Buster Posey, and Cuba's Yasiel Puig and Aroldis Chapman, among many others.
Prior to 2010, the IBAF organized the World Junior Baseball Championship. The WBSC was created in 2013 when the IBAF merged with the International Softball Federation.
Classification With the approved format of 12 national teams, the WBSC has distributed the continental quotas as follows:
WBSC Africa: 1 spots WBSC Americas: 4 spots WBSC Asia: 3 spots WBSC Europe: 2 spots WBSC Oceania: 1 spots Wild cards: 1 spots (including hosts if necessary)
The participants will be determined through the continental championships.
Results Years Hosts Finalists Semi-finalists Teams Champions Score Runners-up 3rd place Score 4th placeWorld Junior Baseball Championship 11981DetailsNewark 9 – 7 11 21982DetailsKnoxville10 – 4? 31983DetailsJohnstown? 41984DetailsSaskatoon10 51985DetailsAlbany4 – 18 61986DetailsWindsor13 – 07 71987DetailsWindsor6 – 57 81988DetailsSydney8 – 18 91989DetailsTrois-Rivières11 – 312 101990DetailsCuba10 111991DetailsBrandon5 – 210 121992DetailsMonterrey6 – 121 131993DetailsWindsor5 – 18 141994DetailsBrandon11 – 1010 151995DetailsCape Cod10 – 08 161996DetailsSancti Spíritus6 – 510 171997DetailsMoncton7 – 311 181999DetailsKaohsiung10 – 912 192000DetailsEdmonton9 – 712 202002DetailsSherbrooke9 – 612 212004DetailsTaipei4 – 011 222006DetailsSancti Spíritus4 – 312 232008DetailsEdmonton7 – 06 – 212 242010DetailsThunder Bay8 – 48 – 21218U Baseball World Championship252012DetailsSeoul 6 – 2 4 – 1 1218U Baseball World Cup 262013DetailsTaichung 3 – 2 6 – 1 12U-18 Baseball World Cup 272015DetailsOsaka2 – 18 – 512 282017DetailsThunder Bay8 – 08 – 112 292019DetailsGijang2 – 16 – 512 302022DetailsOriginally scheduled to be held in 2021, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, postponed to September 2022.Sarasota & Bradenton5 – 16 – 212 312023DetailsTaipei & Taichung2 – 14 – 012 322025DetailsNaha & Itoman2 – 03 – 212 332027DetailsPingtan12 Source: Notes
Medal table
Chinese Taipei is the official WBSC designation for the team representing the state officially referred to as the Republic of China, more commonly known as Taiwan. (See also political status of Taiwan for details.)
See also Baseball awards#World International Baseball Federation World Baseball Softball Confederation
References