Marília Baseball Team won the 77th Brazilian Adult Baseball Championship in its 2024 edition, a tournament that concluded Sunday Aug. 18 in Marília, São Paulo. For the fourth time in a row, the team took another cup in a competition involving the 12 best teams in Brazilian baseball.
With the result, Marília also guaranteed its participation in Taça Brasil, the main and most traditional competition in national baseball. The ‘Taça’ takes place between November and December, closing the sport’s calendar in the country.
Amateur tournament brings together the best in the country
The ‘Campeonato Brasileiro de Beisebol’ (name in Portuguese) is a short competition held annually with amateur teams – Brazil still doesn’t have a professional league in the sport. Even so, the tournament brings together the best teams from the main regions where baseball has been practiced for decades.
#Amateur players are the majority of the tournament. (Photo: Vinicius Farias/CBBS)
As well as Marília, the tournament included teams from other parts of Brazil – GECEBS, Nippon Blue Jays, Atibaia, Ibiúna, Medicina USP and Presidente Prudente (all from São Paulo); Pinheiros, Londrina and Maringá (Paraná), VG Spartans (Mato Grosso) and Dourados FA (Mato Grosso do Sul). The teams previously went through preliminary qualifiers held in the capital of São Paulo, in Paraná, and in the interior of the country before making their way to the national championship.
Names from the main recent call-ups to the Brazilian National Baseball Team were present, such as the silver medalists from the Pan-American Games in Santiago, Pedro Okuda (Marília), Lucas Rojo (Atibaia), Lucas Sakay (Ibiúna) and Felipe Mizukosi (GECEBS). Some athletes from the U18 team that competed in the recent U18 World Cup qualifier in Panama also competed in the Brasileiro.
#Atibaia team won Taça Brasil in 2023 and is already qualified for this year’s edition. (Photo: Vinicius Farias/CBBS)
Marília’s dominance and collective no-hitter
Marília won all four games they played, ending the tournament with the best record. The scores were 8-1 against Londrina and 11-1 against Ibiúna in the group stage, 1-0 against the Nippon Blue Jays in the semi-final, and 10-1 against GECEBS in the final. Collectively, the team also had the best defense, with only three runs conceded in four games.
In the title game, Marília recorded a collective no-hitter against GECEBS. Six pitchers participated in the conquest, among them Heitor Tokar, currently in the Mexican Béisbol League and with recent experience in the Houston Astros Minor Leagues, and Hugo Kanabushi, who played for the Japanese teams Tokyo Yakult Swallows and Yomiuri Giants of the NPB.
The team is rightly compared to La Liga’s Real Madrid from soccer as the ‘Galácticos’ due to its squad being full of players with international baseball experience. In addition to Tokar and Kanabushi, brothers Iago and Igor Januário played Minor League Baseball for the Rays and Mariners, respectively; Alan Fanhoni was one of the highlights of the Cougars de Montigny’s recent conquests in the French League.
#Alan Fanhoni, one of the big bats of Marília, with a prominent career in France. (Photo: Vinicius Farias/CBBS)
Luis Felipe Santos, from Marília, was awarded the best pitcher of the tournament and highlighted the level of the competition. “I thought the championship was of a high standard, and it’s important to have a format with teams from various regions of the country; it’s the step that baseball has to take to keep growing in Brazil,” he explained. Santos also celebrated the opportunity given to Venezuelan athletes, who were part of practically every team in the tournament.
Unprecedented qualification for the Brazil Cup
The Pinheiros team from Curitiba was also a highlight in this edition of the Brazilian Championship. For the first time in history, the club from the south part of Brazil qualified an adult team for the Taça Brasil. Eidy Yoshizumi, the team’s coach, commented on the team’s preparation.
#Pinheiros athletes celebrate their first qualifying for Taça Brasil. (Photo: Vinicius Farias/CBBS)
“Pinheiros has evolved a lot due to the work of many years and many athletes, as well as their parents. The amateur athlete has various professional and family commitments that make it difficult to prepare as we really want, but the feeling is one of accomplishment,” he said. “It’s nice to see Brazilian baseball standing out and to know that our team is part of this development, which starts at the grassroots level,” he added.
In addition to Pinheiros, the teams Marília (champion), GECEBS (2nd place), and Nippon Blue Jays (3rd place) qualified for the Brazil Cup. The team from Atibaia, winner of the Taça in 2023, has already qualified.
(Cover Photo Credit: Vinicius Farias/CBBS)
