10 must know things about the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup

The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the most historic youth competition sanctioned by the WBSC. The 30th edition opens on Friday, 9 September. Here are 10 things to know about this official youth baseball world championship tournament.

1- Sarasota and Bradenton are the host sites the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup. The two cities are located south of Tampa, Florida. The distance between Bradenton and Sarasota is 13.3 miles or 21 kilometres.

2- Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota was built in 1989 and can accommodate 8,500 people. It is named after the Sarasota civic leader who was instrumental in developing the project. It has been the Spring Training home of the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB) since 2010.

3-LECOM park is the Spring home of MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates. It was built in 1923 and is the oldest spring training stadium in MLB. It is made in a Florida Spanish Mission style and is named after a naming rights deal with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine and can accommodate 8,500 people.

4-After hosting the first two editions of the event in 1981 and 1982, the United States last hosted the U-18 Baseball in 1995. It will be the sixth time the U-18 World Cup is held in the United States.

5-Cuba has the most wins in the tournament (11) but failed to qualify for the XXX edition. The United States has won it nine times, including four consecutive titles (2012-2017). Korea has five U-18 World Titles, Chinese Taipei three and Canada one.

6-Canada has hosted the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup a record 13 times. Chinese Taipei, Cuba (three times), Korea (two), Australia, Japan and Mexico (one) also hosted the tournament.

7-The WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup was born as the yearly Triple-A World Cup in 1981. It began a two-year cycle on odd years in 1987, then switched to even years in 2000. It went back to an odd-year, two-year cycle in 2013.

8-The tournament will follow the usual WBSC World Cup format. The 12 participants are split into two groups, with the top three finishers of each group competing for the title in the super round. The first and second place teams of the super round will play for the title.

9-Including the medal games, the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup will consist of 50 games.

10-The top five baseball programmes in the world will compete in the XXX WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup: No. 1 Japan, No. 2 Chinese Taipei, No. 3 Korea, No. 4 Mexico and No. 5 USA.