The History of the Women’s Baseball World Cup

The 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup is the event’s ninth edition. It consists of the best Women’s baseball players from qualified countries competing on a global stage for the ultimate honor of being champions. This tournament’s history goes back two decades, which plays into the importance of the competition being held this summer.  

The Women’s Baseball World Cup is a change of pace in a world where women primarily play softball, with a bigger ball and underhand pitching. These women are the best of the best and prove that baseball is not just a game limited to men. The first edition of the tournament was held in the summer of 2004 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The tournament took place every two years until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. 

Each year, nations attempt to qualify for the tournament in many ways. Only five teams competed in the inaugural tournament in 2004. This year, 12 teams qualified for the group stage, with six advancing to the knockout stage. Japan, the 2023 Women’s Baseball Asian Cup champions; Venezuela, the 2022 Women’s Baseball Americas World Cup Qualifier champions; and France, the 2022 Women’s European Baseball champions, qualified by winning their respective continental tournaments.  

Puerto Rico, Mexico, Cuba, Chinese Taipei, South Korea, and Hong Kong qualified by rounding out the top four in the Americas and Asian qualifiers. The United States qualified through the Wild Card, Canada qualified as the host nation, and Australia qualified as the top-ranked WBSC Oceania team.

These 12 teams made up the field for the group stages that took place in 2023. Group A was contested in Aug. 2023, with the top three teams, the United States, Canada, and Mexico, advancing to the finals this year. Group B was held in Sep. 2023, with Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Venezuela advancing. These six teams are the only countries to ever medal in the previous years of the tournament, with Japan holding the most with eight medals.  

The first winner of the tournament was the United States. The U.S. women’s team defeated Japan in 2004 and 2006 to earn the first two trophies in this tournament. Japan has not looked back since, winning every championship since 2008. Teams like Canada, Australia, Chinese Taipei, and the United States have faced off against Japan in the finals, with each squad falling short each time.  

This year’s tournament is a full circle location, with what was supposed to be the tenth edition, and is the 20-year-anniversary tournament taking place in Canada once again. The games are in Thunder Bay and started on July 28. The championship and third-place game will take place on Aug. 3, while today, Aug. 1, is the last day of the finals. 

Each team plays five games, one against each opponent. Japan and the United States are both 4-0 and have already qualified for the championship game. However, they face off today in the last game before the championship to decide who is the number one overall seed and gets the advantage in the winner-take-all. Canada is 2-2 and will play 0-4 Chinese Taipei. Canada has already clinched its spot in the third-place game and will face off against the winner of two 1-3 teams, Venezuela and Mexico.  

The tournament has showcased incredible shutouts and slugfests over the past week, but everything is headed to a showdown between the United States and Japan. The two countries that have dominated this tournament since its inception will match up in the title game for the fifth time in nine tournaments. Japan looks to claim its seventh straight World Cup, while the United States aims to climb the mountain top for the first time since 2006.  

Follow along at: www.wbsc.org to keep up with the final day of pool play on Aug. 1 and medal games on Aug. 3.  

Photo Credit: Women’s Baseball World Cup via wbsc.org