'26 Little League World Series (8/19-30) thread

[Tom McAndrew]

The 2026 Little League World Series takes place on Aug. 19 through 30th, in Williamsport, PA. Please use this thread for all pre-tournament, in-tournament, and post-tournament discussion of the '26 LLWS.

There are 10 USA teams in the USA competition, and 10 international teams in the International competition. The winners of the USA competition and the International competition meet at the end of the tournament to crown the winner of the '26 LLWS.

The teams in the competition are:

USA:
- Great Lakes Region: West Side Little League (Hamilton, OH)
- Metro Region: Bayonee Central Little League (Bayonne, NJ)
- Mid-Atlantic Region: East Side Little League (West Chester, PA)
- Midwest Region: Davenport Northwest Little League (Davenport, IA)
- Mountain Region: Paseo Verde Little League (Henderson, NV)
- New England Region: Bridgewater Joe Lazaro Little League (Bridgewater, MA)
- Northwest Region: Soundview Little League (Tacoma, WA)
- Southeast Region: Phenix City Youth Baseball Little League (Phenix City, AL)
- Southwest Region: Boerne Little League (Boerne, TX)
- West Region: Sweetwater Valley Little League (Bonita, CA)

International:
- Asia-Pacific Region: West Seoul Little League (Seoul, South Korea)
- Australia Region: Ryde Red Little League (New South Wales, Australia)
- Canadian Region: Little Mountain Little League (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
- Caribbean Region: Los Nocionales Little League (Santiago, Dominican Republic)
- Curacao Region: Pariba Little League (Willemstad, Curacao)
- Europe-Africa Region: South Czech Republic Little League (Brno, Czechia)
- Japan Region: Joto Little League (Hamamatsu City, Tokyo, Japan)
- Latin America Region: Ministerio Sobre Las Alas Del Aguila Little League (Leon, Nicaragua)
- Mexico Region: Municipal De Tijuana Little League (Tijuana, Mexico)
- Panama Region: David Doleguita Little League (Chiriqui, Panama)

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Day 1 (8/19) Schedule:

G1: INT - Latin America vs. Caribbean
G2: USA - Northwest vs. Southeast
G3: INT - Canada vs. Asia-Pacifico
G4: USA - New England vs. Metro

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Day 1 (8/19) Results:

G1: INT - Latin America - 2, Caribbean - 1
G2: USA - Northwest - 2, Southeast - 0
G3: INT - Asia-Pacific - 7, Canada - 0
G4: USA -Metro - 2, New England - 1

Congrats to the above winners.

Day 2 (8/20) Schedule:

G5: INT - Australia vs. Mexico
G6: USA - Great Lakes vs. Mountain
G7: INT - Japan vs. Curacao
G8: USA - West vs. Midwest

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Rain washed out all the games scheduled for 8/20. So, the new Day 2 (8/21) is going to be a busy schedule:

G5: INT - Australia vs. Mexico
G6: USA - Great Lakes vs. Mountain
G7: INT - Japan vs. Curacao
G8: USA - West vs. Midwest
G9: INT - Latin America vs. Panama
G10: USA - Northwest vs. Southwest
G11: INT - Asia-Pacific vs. Europe-Africa
G12: USA - Mid-Atlantic vs. Metro

G12 is the first game for the team from PA (Mid-Atlantic), and the second game for the team from NJ (Metro).

Hopefully the weather enables them to play all 12 games.

 

[MtNittany]

BIG crowd in Williamsport tonight for PA/NJ. Everything looks perfect.

 

[BCS PSU]

BIG crowd in Williamsport tonight for PA/NJ. Everything looks perfect.

Another small performance by the PA team, which basically happens almost every year.

 

[MtNittany]

Another small performance by the PA team, which basically happens almost every year.

The loser's bracket in this tournament isn't great. You never know though.

 

[BCS PSU]

The loser's bracket in this tournament isn't great. You never know though.

That PA team doesn’t appear to have the offense to be a major player; way too many unproductive at bats and inability to put balls in play, which is more than half the battle in LL.

Also, that NJ team is a very well-coached and fundamentally sound team.

 

[Bison13]

With teams now batting the entire lineup, you can definitely see a depth issue for some of these teams. Some of the rosters have kids taking very weak swings in the bottom four or five spots of the order.
I wonder if part of that is that they just aren’t getting the same amount of high-level travel kids who play on the bigger diamond to come back for the local little league games so that they can play in the Little League tournaments

 

[BCS PSU]

With teams now batting the entire lineup, you can definitely see a depth issue for some of these teams. Some of the rosters have kids taking very weak swings in the bottom four or five spots of the order.
I wonder if part of that is that they just aren’t getting the same amount of high-level travel kids who play on the bigger diamond to come back for the local little league games so that they can play in the Little League tournaments

That’s exactly the reason. Many of the best kids at that age don’t even play LL; they only play travel ball. I compare it to travel hockey teams and high school hockey teams here in WPA; the average travel hockey team has a much deeper roster than the average high school team, and a lot of travel hockey players don’t play high school hockey. Likewise, the average 11 to 13 year old travel baseball team would destroy most of these LL teams that are playing in the World Series.

 

[Tom McAndrew]

Day 2 (8/21) Results:

G5: INT - Mexico - 7, Australia - 1
G6: USA - Mountain - 6, Great Lakes - 5
G7: INT - Curacao - 6, Japan - 0
G8: USA - Midwest - 1, West - 0
G9: INT - Latin America - 6, Panama - 4
G10: USA - Northwest - 4, Southwest - 3
G11: INT - Asia-Pacific - 5, Europe-Africa - 0
G12: USA - Metro - 3, Mid-Atlantic - 1

Day 3 (8/22) Schedule:

G13: INT - Canada vs. Australia
G14: USA - New England vs. Great Lakes
G15: INT - Caribbean vs. Japan
G16: USA - Southeast vs. West

 

[MtNittany]

That’s exactly the reason. Many of the best kids at that age don’t even play LL; they only play travel ball. I compare it to travel hockey teams and high school hockey teams here in WPA; the average travel hockey team has a much deeper roster than the average high school team, and a lot of travel hockey players don’t play high school hockey. Likewise, the average 11 to 13 year old travel baseball team would destroy most of these LL teams that are playing in the World Series.

Most of the players in Williamsport are already playing "travel ball". The fact that they choose to participate, and play w/ their friends and neighbors in Little League is a credit to them. It's probably fun to not be a mercenary for a change. Just a kid.

Point me to a study that shows that the LLBB dimensions, base running rules, etc. inhibit a young baseball player's growth. LL has Senior League (13-15). Just wait a year to lead off and steal bases.

 

[Bison13]

Most of the players in Williamsport are already playing "travel ball". The fact that they choose to participate, and play w/ their friends and neighbors in Little League is a credit to them. It's probably fun to not be a mercenary for a change. Just a kid.

Point me to a study that shows that the LLBB dimensions, base running rules, etc. inhibit a young baseball player's growth. LL has Senior League (13-15). Just wait a year to lead off and steal bases.

There’s not a study, of course, but as someone who’s coached high school baseball or above for 25 years, I do think kids who are bigger and stronger at 12 years old and are still playing on the 46/60 diamond, it does hinder their development and some even regress from it. It’s not all kids, but the ones who are physically bigger or stronger and ready to play on a 50/70 diamond by 12 years old. These kids that are doing it in the LLWS are doing both so it’s not hurting them.
I too give them lots of props and respect for playing with their local buddies if that’s actually what’s happening. What goes on at the local little league here is there’s one travel team that gets picked at the beginning of the year and those players get split up amongst the other Little League teams in there community league. That originally selected travel team plays weeknight games on the smaller diamond and then does tournaments on the weekend on the bigger diamond. they then have another tryout at the completion of the Little League season, but outside of maybe one kid losing their spot, it’s essentially the travel team that was selected earlier in the year.

 

[MtNittany]

There’s not a study, of course, but as someone who’s coached high school baseball or above for 25 years, I do think kids who are bigger and stronger at 12 years old and are still playing on the 46/60 diamond, it does hinder their development and some even regress from it. It’s not all kids, but the ones who are physically bigger or stronger and ready to play on a 50/70 diamond by 12 years old. These kids that are doing it in the LLWS are doing both so it’s not hurting them.
I too give them lots of props and respect for playing with their local buddies if that’s actually what’s happening. What goes on at the local little league here is there’s one travel team that gets picked at the beginning of the year and those players get split up amongst the other Little League teams in there community league. That originally selected travel team plays weeknight games on the smaller diamond and then does tournaments on the weekend on the bigger diamond. they then have another tryout at the completion of the Little League season, but outside of maybe one kid losing their spot, it’s essentially the travel team that was selected earlier in the year.

Another thing is that at its core, LLBB isn't really about these kids. It's also about the Timmy Lupis's and Tanner Boyle's of the world who aren't All Stars and "Just wanna play ball".

 

[Moogy]

Are towns actually seeing a lack of LL (or Ripken) participation due to travel ball? I know things are culturally different in different locations, so it's quite possible, but around here, the kids who play travel ball are still playing in-town, as well ... at least until they hit the big diamond in town at 13.

At 13 is when we start to see some better, or more serious baseball players who join the better travel orgs with more training, practice and games, moving on from any town-based offerings.

Then again, our travel baseball doesn't start until 9U, and I see folks down South playing 7U ... or even 5U ... travel baseball ... which, to me, seems insane.

 

[Moogy]

I'll also add ... 46/60 baseball SUCKS for older kids. Kids who actually play baseball, and like it, suffer through 46/60 until they can get to 50/70 and then 60/90. I mean, when they're little, 46/60 makes sense ... but your typical 12-year-old, and even many 11-year-olds, shouldn't be playing 46/60, and by those rules. And that's based on the feedback of the kids. The ones who do play travel baseball, which by 11 or 12 has switched to 50/70, and then have to come back to 46/60, complain.

And it looks completely unnatural. Pop fly outs go for HRs. Kids hit easy grounders, fielded cleanly, with good throws, and they're still safe at 1B, because the bases are so short. It's kinda like pinball baseball. And needlessly dangerous.

I understand there's a balancing act that needs to be done, as kids develop at different ages, so expanding the field dimensions too quickly can alienate a lot of smaller kids, but I'd rather make the game safer by expanding the field, then to have them play on a mini field where a decent line drive can easily turn into a trip to the hospital.

 

[LionJim]

I'll also add ... 46/60 baseball SUCKS for older kids. Kids who actually play baseball, and like it, suffer through 46/60 until they can get to 50/70 and then 60/90. I mean, when they're little, 46/60 makes sense ... but your typical 12-year-old, and even many 11-year-olds, shouldn't be playing 46/60, and by those rules. And that's based on the feedback of the kids. The ones who do play travel baseball, which by 11 or 12 has switched to 50/70, and then have to come back to 46/60, complain.

And it looks completely unnatural. Pop fly outs go for HRs. Kids hit easy grounders, fielded cleanly, with good throws, and they're still safe at 1B, because the bases are so short. It's kinda like pinball baseball. And needlessly dangerous.

I understand there's a balancing act that needs to be done, as kids develop at different ages, so expanding the field dimensions too quickly can alienate a lot of smaller kids, but I'd rather make the game safer by expanding the field, than to have them play on a mini field where a decent line drive can easily turn into a trip to the hospital.

Huh. Makes you think. (LLWS is 46/60.)

 

[Bison13]

Are towns actually seeing a lack of LL (or Ripken) participation due to travel ball? I know things are culturally different in different locations, so it's quite possible, but around here, the kids who play travel ball are still playing in-town, as well ... at least until they hit the big diamond in town at 13.

At 13 is when we start to see some better, or more serious baseball players who join the better travel orgs with more training, practice and games, moving on from any town-based offerings.

Then again, our travel baseball doesn't start until 9U, and I see folks down South playing 7U ... or even 5U ... travel baseball ... which, to me, seems insane.

I don’t necessarily think they’re losing players, I think the Little League organizations realize that the better players are playing travel and that even the All-Star teams in their little leagues are not going to be good enough to compete in any kind of high-level tournament to get to Williamsport.
Here in Maryland you see a lot of what they call “rec All-Star“ tournaments that go on for an extra month of the summer. These are generally the true little leaguers , the kids that practice once a week and play one game on Saturday morning from the end of March until early June. They then have their community All-Star teams play in some tournaments against other community All-Star teams rather than try and get into the state Little League tournament.

 

[Moogy]

I don’t necessarily think they’re losing players, I think the Little League organizations realize that the better players are playing travel and that even the All-Star teams in their little leagues are not going to be good enough to compete in any kind of high-level tournament to get to Williamsport.
Here in Maryland you see a lot of what they call “rec All-Star“ tournaments that go on for an extra month of the summer. These are generally the true little leaguers , the kids that practice once a week and play one game on Saturday morning from the end of March until early June. They then have their community All-Star teams play in some tournaments against other community All-Star teams rather than try and get into the state Little League tournament.

I could see that. Up here, most orgs are Ripken-affiliated. The ones that are Little League will always enter the state LL tourney. That seems to be their main motivation for sticking with LL - for a chance at the LLWS, no matter how slim (we actually had 2 "local" entries make it recently ... including Bridgewater this year). I think a decent number of Ripken-affiliated towns do what you indicated happens down there - just play summer all-stars with other local towns (and local tourneys) and skip out on the Ripken tourney.

Our town is nutty, in that we have our spring in-town league, which at the 11-12U age range plays some 46/60 games and some 50/70 games ... then we'll pick All-Stars, and they'll play in a summer 50/70 All-Star league composed of surrounding towns, and we'll do local tourneys (some can be 50/70, some 46/60), and we'll also enter into the LL/Ripken tourney (we've actually switched affiliations, so that's another mess). If you have a decent team that gets wins a decent amount of tourney games, it adds up real fast, especially when you consider most of the kids who qualify for the All-Star teams are also playing travel ball in the spring. And it's also a mess, since you're often hopping back and forth between 46/60 and 50/70.

That's one of the reasons we lose a lot of kids early - they just get burnt out, especially if it's not their #1 sport - or they just don't want to do all that in the first place, and feel they won't develop and compete with the kids who do that stuff, so they just bail early on. Then, if they're decently athletic, they just hop into lax, because you can just run around for awhile and then you're done ... like youth soccer.

 

[NedFromYork]

Does West Chester play again? I only see the one loss to NJ.

 

[BCS PSU]

Does West Chester play again? I only see the one loss to NJ.

Yes, it’s a double elimination tournament. They’re in the losers bracket so they’ll play a team that also has lost a game.