Baseball Canada: WBSC Americas U-18 Pan American Championship Preview

Thirteen countries, including Canada, will compete in the 2024 U-18 Pan American Championship, a qualifier for the 2025 Baseball World Cup starting on August 2. Photo: Baseball Canada

August 1, 2024

Baseball Canada

PANAMA CITY, PA – Thirteen countries, including Canada, will compete in the 2024 U-18 Pan American Championship, a qualifier for the 2025 Baseball World Cup starting on August 2.

The WBSC Americas Board of Directors determined with all its members that the host country of the U-18 tournament would receive a direct spot to the World Cup.

Panama will participate in the tournament, but it has already qualified for the World Cup in the category by hosting the qualifier tournament, so the other 13 participating nations will be competing for those three available spots.

The Pan American Championship features two groups. Group A is made up of Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua. While in Group B the participants are Brazil, Costa Rica, Panama, Puerto Rico, United States, and Venezuela.

The Estadio Nacional Rod Carew, the Estadio de Beisbol Justino Salinas, and the Estadio Juan D. Arosemena will serve as the main venues for the event.

The tournament will feature an opening round with round-robin play amongst the two groups. Canada will open play on August 2 at the Estadio Nacional Rod Carew against Guatemala.

The Final Round is set to start on August 9, with quarter-final action where the top four nations from the group stage are set to clash in a knockout round. Group’s top teams will meet with the fourth placed teams, while second place faces third.

Winners of the quarter finals will move on to a semi-final round on August 10 to determine the bronze and gold medal games scheduled for August 11 at the Estadio Rod Carew.

Live scoring, schedule and results can all be found in the official WBSC Americas U-18 Pan American Championship site here.