TOKYO (AP) β In a boost for baseball’s bid for inclusion in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Japan will co-host a new international baseball tournament this year.
The launch of the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier 12 tournament was announced in Tokyo on Monday by the leaders of the WBSC and Nippon Professional Baseball.
The tournament will feature the men’s top-12 ranked national teams and will be played in Japan and Taiwan from Nov. 8-21.
Organizers called it a “new flagship professional baseball world championship.”
The opening round-robin stage and quarterfinals will be played in Taiwan. The “grand opening,” semifinals, bronze medal game and gold medal championship will be played at the Tokyo Dome.
The full schedule and groups will be released later.
