Most recent season or competition: 2015 18U Baseball World Cup |
|
Sport | Baseball |
---|---|
Founded | 1981 |
No. of teams | 12 (Finals) |
Continent | International |
Most recent champion(s) |
United States |
Most titles | Cuba (11) |
The 18U 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 18U Baseball World Cup affect the WBSC World Rankings.
Several players who have participated in the 18U Baseball World Cup have gone on to stardom at the professional level, including Japan's Yu Darvish, USA's Clayton Kershaw 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.
1Chinese Taipei is the official IBAF 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.)