baseball

Japan beats California 6-4 for LLWS title

10 Comments
By JOHN KEKIS

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im not sure how this little league world series works. but does a city (chula vista, california) have to compete with the best players in japan?

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Best players in Tokyo. Disparity in city sizes but good fun for the kids and great money earner for LLBS, shame the kids get diddly squat.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

No. Chula Vista East Lake Little League All-Stars vs Musashi Fuchu Little League All-Stars. There are many Little Leagues in Tokyo. Last year's winner was by a team of a totally different League... but, also from Tokyo. That team didn't make it out of the Tokyo regionals this year. Musashi Fuchu and Chofu represented Tokyo in the Japan regionals. They won that, and then won the international bracket. ...the US winner gets an automatic berth in the final.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Every team in the LLWS is made up of a team of "all-stars" from their respective league. The best players from the Chula Vista (Eastlake LL) played the best players from the Musashi Fuchu LL, as slump mentions above. The fact that Japanese teams have won a total of nine titles, four out of the last five is amazing ! Another interesting fact is that the manager of the Musashi Fuchu LL team has taken three teams to the LLWS, winning two of them ! The Japanese players played their hearts out for the duration of the tournament. They deserve all the accolades they have coming ! Yokku yata ! Seikai Ichi Omedetou !

3 ( +4 / -1 )

If you check up on the history, it's a pretty amazing story.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Hooyah Little League Champs! I'd rather see these games than any pro game.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Well played to these youngsters - some future superstars in the MLB, no doubt! It would be great in the future, though, if "Team Japan" included representative players from more than one city - and even rural Japan. With the number of kids and dominant teams from Tokyo and Osaka, you cant imagine a kid from a rural area will get a shot at playing for Japan - and there is no doubt some sensational talent outside of the big cities.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I watched it live - very exciting game. You always feel bad for the losing team, but the level of sportsmanship throughout the tournament is heartwarming. Another nice thing is that, while a lot of the tournament is carried live on national TV here in the States, it doesn't seem to impact on the kids too much. The organizers seem very determined to keep things easy and comfortable for the boys.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The fact that Japanese teams have won a total of nine titles, four out of the last five is amazing !

Actually, it's 3 out of the last 4, including 2 straight (first time since 1967-68).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_League_World_Series

It would be great in the future, though, if "Team Japan" included representative players from more than one city - and even rural Japan. With the number of kids and dominant teams from Tokyo and Osaka, you cant imagine a kid from a rural area will get a shot at playing for Japan - and there is no doubt some sensational talent outside of the big cities.

Little League is limited to your locales and by population, so a high-density locale can't just have 1 team but separated into multiple teams to make it fairer. Other parts of Japan have their shot during qualifications:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Little_League_World_Series_qualification#Japan

Another nice thing is that, while a lot of the tournament is carried live on national TV here in the States, it doesn't seem to impact on the kids too much. The organizers seem very determined to keep things easy and comfortable for the boys.

Parents aren't even allowed to stay with the kids in the players compound. There it's just kids for kids.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Little Japanese baseball players became a world champion again. It is just because "Only American" baseball team is in the same level as same as Japanese baseball team. Then why major league baseball is a little stronger than professional baseball league of Japan? it is just because other countries has been sending good baseball players to MLB for a long decades. Usually American kids experience many kinds of sports while they are student, thats why they dont really practice only for baseball, but Japanese kids who plays baseball usually practice only for baseball almost every day, thats why Japan official team has became a champion team in WBC twice in a low even team of USA has physical advantage more than Japanese players, but Dominican Republic which is champion team in 2013 WBC, their players has been playing baseball to earn a money because their country is kind of poverty, so they usually try to be player in MLB to support for their family. That kind of hungry spirit is the big difference. Japanese baseball players have a physical disadvantage to compare with other players in American countries, so how they can win in international tournament is that they have to practice more to gain their skill.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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