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The title “Becoming A Better Pitcher” is quite ambiguous to say the least. Are we going to explore how to throw a sharper breaking curveball, increase our velocity and movement on our fastball or learn a new trick for achieving pin point control of all our pitches?

These are but a few of the many physical skills a pitcher must develop in order to climb the ladder of success to becoming a great pitcher and of course are quite important. However, a pitcher with great physical skills, but little mental hardness, is similar to a formula one race car without a skilled driver…it’ll never reach its full potential.

Just exactly what do I mean by Mental Hardness? Ironically, what I’m talking about is the mental toughness to completely ignore the method pitching philosophy is taught, from atom league through high school, with some major league pitchers still struggling to learn how to pitch.

Throughout a pitchers’ career the first stat he’s evaluated on, is his strike out to walk ratio, Strike Out being the most highlighted. Obviously, and quite naturally, a pitcher begins to value himself by the same criteria the supposedly “experts” utilize.

What makes is a strikeout so important? A strikeout has somehow become to be considered the measuring stick of domination of the pitcher’s skills over the batter’s skills. Is this ancient Rome where our ball players are considered Gladiators fighting to the death or medieval England with knights jostling?

Here’s the Truth about strike outs…. A Great Pitcher, on average, must strike out two hitters in a nine inning game. (When you get over the dazed shock you’re in, I’ll continue.)

There are, again on average, two times a game where the situation requires the pitcher to record a strikeout in order to successfully perform his job. For instance, a bases loaded and no outs situation is a prime example of the need for a strikeout. The pitcher must produce an out, without any movement of runners on base, which in turn creates a bases loaded with one out, double play situation. The strikeout is imperative at this point in order to set up an inning ending double play with No runs being allowed to score.

Another situation could be a runner on third with less than two outs, but this scenario depends on the score of the game, as there are many times a team will trade a run for an out. Assuming the runner on third is the tying or winning run, the pitcher requires a strikeout to keep the batter from putting the ball in play and allowing the run to score.

The main issue I hoped to address in this article is demonstrate a Great Pitcher is not necessarily the one who strikes out 10 hitters a game, but most likely the pitcher who strikes out two hitters a game and pitches to where the opposition hits the ball to the his defensive team mates.

The pitcher who has conquered the ill gotten attitude that a strikeout is the only way to pitch, and has learned to use his team mates to defeat foes, will be the greater pitcher.

Sandy Koufax, a Hall of Fame Pitcher for the Dodgers and tremendous left handed strike out pitcher, may have expressed it the best when he said something similar to ” I became a good pitcher when I realized I didn’t have to strike everyone out.”

Baseball players have their “Normal” fielding positions which are designed to provide the greatest amount of area coverage in which one fielder will be able to reach and field a hit baseball. These positions are tried and true from tens of thousands of ball games.

However, these “Normal” positions are just that, Normal. There’s nothing set in stone as to not being able to vary the defensive set depending on the situation. Let’s look at a few of these situations which could dictate you moving your defense into a shift.

The very first and most used shift involves the corner infielders. Once again depending on the score, the manager must determine if his best bet is to put the odds in his favor as far as the third baseman or first baseman fielding the ball for an out, or increase his odds of not allowing an extra base hit.

With the score close, within 2 or 3 runs of each other, and the game being in the late innings, 6th and 7th of a 7 inning game, 8th and 9th of a 9 inning game, the coach will position his corner infielders very close to the base.

The reasoning for this is quite simple. A ball hit through the infield to the left side of the 3rd baseman or the right side of the first baseman, will result in a base hit, as the outfielder will easily be able to field the ground ball and get it back into the infield, holding the runner at first base.

However, a hard hit ground ball to the right of the third baseman or left of the first baseman, which gets passed the infielder, will most likely result in a double for the hitter, placing him in scoring position. The reason for this huge difference, is a ball hit like this will have a natural spin which will take the baseball in direction towards the foul line and away from the outfielder.

Instead of waiting for the ball to reach him, he will have to go and retrieve the ball which allows the runner more time to reach second base.

Another type of shift utilized is an Over Shift, in which either the second baseman is shifted to behind second base or slightly on the shortstop side of second, or the shortstop is shifted behind second or slightly to the right field side of the base.

The reason for utilizing this shift, as we will see, is actually two fold. This shift is implemented when there is a Pull hitter, with power at the bat. Some hitters are capable of pulling (hitting) any pitch, whether it be outside or not, into a specific field, most likely left or right field.

The extra infielder is placed on the side of the field the hitter will 99% hit the baseball, giving the defense an advantage of fielding the ball for an out instead of a base hit.

Secondly, the shift is also implemented in order to induce the hitter to hit the ball to the open side of the infield, which will be his Non Power side. The team in essence is saying “I’ll allow a free base hit in order to prevent a home run or extra base hit.”

In a pitcher’s duel, this shift and the results it produces, could have game winning or losing implications.

A five tool player is a baseball player that boasts impressive speed, is able to hit for average, hit for power, an excellent throwing arm, and additionally is going to be really good defensively. Chase Utley, David Wright, Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Josh Hamilton unquestionably are good examples of current players that experts claim are adept or exceed at all of the 5 tools. Let’s look at every one of these one at a time.

Running Speed – This particular tool is just about the toughest to successfully improve in. It is actually doable to have a person to increase his speed, nevertheless his maximum is really primarily based upon the specific person himself. Speed is certainly tremendously significant when you consider that speed and agility happen to be put to use not merely in base running but in defense also. In addition to becoming much more physically fit, as a way to boost your speed it’s best to work on your form, efficiency of movement, as well as first-step quickness.

Arm Strength – Although, a number of people sometimes claim that arm strength is the least essential of the 5 tools, a player with a decent arm not only has a physical advantage over other players, but in addition a psychological one. For instance, if a baserunner witnesses that an outfielder possesses a spectacular arm, they’ll be less likely to attempt to take an extra base than they might have with an outfielder with just an average arm. The outfielder didn’t even have to make a throw, but he still won the battle. For you to improve in arm strength you must work on weight training (if you are physically mature enough) along with actively playing “long-toss.”

Hitting for Average – Hitting for average calls for the ability to hit to all fields and understand when to bunt. Being able to make contact often is critical. Hitting for average involves excellent decision-making skills and good pitch selection while at bat. Hitting for average is most likely one of the most significant tools because for you to score runs you need baserunners, and in order to have baserunners you need to get hits (or have especially good pitch selection and get walks.)

Hitting for Power – This is without a doubt the most envied tool of young players, but not necessarily the most crucial. The most noticeable advantage of power hitters are extra base hits and home runs. Power hitters also add a mental advantage of intimidation. Power hitters are frequently the most famous players on a team simply because much like fans, scouts love seeing a player hit the long ball. To be able to improve your power, a strength and conditioning system will be a must.

Fielding – Superb defensive skills are undoubtedly becoming more and more in demand simply because today’s players tend to be concentrating more on hitting for power. Terrific defensive players know how to position themselves against particular hitters, and be capable of utilizing a combination of their “soft” hands, agility, speed, and arm strength to make difficult plays look very simple. In order to improve your fielding, increasing your speed and arm strength is vital, as is getting out there on the field regularly to field ground balls and fly balls. It is a huge advantage if you’re able to play multiple positions.

As you can probably tell, 5 tool players are extremely rare. Sometimes, being really good at a certain tool can possibly lower your value in another. One example is, if you’re a big power hitter, you may be big and powerful, but it is probable that your speed could be lacking. Or, you might be really small and a remarkable defensive player with amazing speed, but can not hit for power on a regular basis. This is okay, and it is important to know yourself and your abilities and get better in the areas that you are lacking as well as perfect your strengths. You can still be a superb player without being a 5 tool player, nevertheless it definitely helps to work on all of these skills when selecting your training routines.

Spring and Baseball are finally back and hopes are high for every fan. Come up with a prediction – why not, no one can prove you wrong now…it’s the beauty of a 162 game season. So what player will rise to the top this year? And will your favorite player be the next Most Valuable Player? Here’s what’s going to happen.

In the National League, the usual suspects still will be prominent players – Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard, Joey Votto, Ryan Braun – and we can expect a select few pitchers to also make a case for themselves like Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum but surprise-surprise a new day has arrived and his name and your National League MVP at the age of 22 by season end can now be revealed – it’s none other than Jason Heyward! When a 20 year old can hit 18 homers, drive in 72 runs with an on base percentage of.393 you need to jump up and take notice. We are looking at the next superstar.

There’s a lot to like about Jason. One he hits in the clutch, his Runs In Scoring Position stats for a 20 year old are nothing short of amazing with an OBP of.443, slugging percentage of.484, driving in 51 of his RBIs in just 124 at bats. Can you imagine this from a 20 year old? It gets better in 2011 because now he has Dan Uggla, with his 30 plus homers and 100 plus rbis on board which will force pitchers to pitch to Heyward not around him like in 2010 when he had 91 walks in 520 at bats. Will Jason be able to lead the Braves to the NL East Crown? As good as the Phillies starting pitchers are, and they are superb, the Braves will be led by Jason and likely to make it close. So Jason Heyward is our pick for National League MVP.

In the American League, there are a large number of players coming into their prime to challenge Josh Hamilton, last year’s MVP. The M & M boys – Mauer and Morneau – of Minnesota are back, along with Evan Longoria, Jose Bautista, new Red Sox like Gonzalez along with old Red Sox like Dustin Pedroia and the breakthrough year players like Cano and Andrus. But the one to watch out for and this year’s likely MVP is Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira who will finally get out of the starting gate on time and display his tremendous abilities over a full season not just the last 2/3rds as in past years. Teixeira can do it all, even last year his RISP was better than Robinson Cano’s was, who was championed by many to be 2010 MVP. Teixeira compiled an amazing OBP of.438 with runners in scoring position versus Cano’s.407.

So will Mark take the Yanks to the World Series? Boston on paper has clearly improved but the Yankees are probably not done trading. Nonetheless, the Yankees will be tough to match run for run as we see Mark Teixeira dominating in this his career MVP season.

It’s always fun predicting, a combination of confidence, knowledge and LUCK. And with every fan, hope springs eternal. So who’s your pick for MVP?

I have been intrigued by the debate in professional baseball, actually more of a feeble questioning of current methods, pertaining to what qualities make a pitcher a “Closer.”

Several major league teams have current “Closers” who, shall we say, are not performing up to expectations, and there are heated debates in the Sports pages about which of the team’s pitchers should replace the current “Closer.”

Baseball has been a major component of my life since I was 5 years old, so any philosophy or method debate automatically attracts my attention, I enjoy analyzing the pros and cons of the debate, but this issue has me puzzled.

What is the big deal about being called a Closing pitcher? Let’s clarify, there are essentially Two types or classifications of pitchers in the major leagues, Starters & Relief Pitchers. The designated labels pretty well describes the difference between the two, but then someone decided to break down the Relief category further.

There’s the Set Up, Long Relief, Closer, Specialized One Hitter Pitcher and so on and so on. I suppose my question is, “Aren’t all these relief pitchers of extraordinary talent?” These players are the “Best of the Best” the “Cream of the Crop” and whatever other superlative adjective you’d want to use.

Does the determination a particular pitcher is a closer, make him better than the rest of the Bullpen pitchers and if so, why? The Closer is theoretically responsible of attaining 3 outs without allowing the opponent to score any runs.

Isn’t the Long Reliever theoretically responsible for attaining 6 or even 9 outs, without allowing the opponent to score any runs? Seems to me the pitcher who is capable of holding the opponent scoreless for two or three innings, instead of one, would be the better pitcher.

What about the Set Up Pitcher and his responsibilities? Set up for what? Is facing the top of the opponents batting order or the number 4,5 and 6th place hitters in the eighth inning, with the job of retiring these power hitters without allowing a run, in order to “set-up” the Closer to pitch to the weaker end of the opponent’s batting order in the ninth inning make him the weaker pitcher?

Although I understand “playing the percentages” the “one hitter” relief pitching role, blows my mind. You have a Right handed starting pitcher, who has faced and struck out an opponent’s particular Left handed batter, three times during the game.

The fourth time the left handed hitter comes to the plate, the starter is pulled and a left handed relief pitcher is brought in to face the hitter. Why? I know, playing the percentages of lefty against lefty, but what about playing with “Common Sense?”

As you can see this debate can begin to ramble, going from logical to totally illogical and back again. The bottom line question I have, “Is there a real reason to designate one particular pitcher a “Closer” or has it just become the politically and everyone else does it thing to do?

When choosing a baseball bat for your child there are some points to consider.

The size of the bat used should be in correlation to their height. The basic rule is the taller they are the longer the bat.

Generally young baseballers of up to 5 foot 6 inches (approx.167 cm) in height will use a 24 inch to 32 inch bat and adults over 6 foot (approx 183 cm) a 34 inch bat.

A general guide would be-

A 5-7 year old starts with a 24-26 inch bat, an 8-9 year old uses a 28-29 inch and a 10 year old 29-30 inch. As they get older 11 and 12 year olds should use a 30-31 inch bat and 13-14 year olds a 31-32 inch. 15-16 year olds should use a 32 inch bat. The weight will also be determined by their arm strength and comfort factors. Certainly comfort is crucial so they need to have a few practice swings to determine if it feels right.

Selecting a bat that is too heavy can alter the timing, speed and distance and can start bad habits that are hard to break.If it’s hard to get speed into the swing then the bat is too heavy. Bats have a length to weight ratio which is used to determine their safety and suitability. This negative number is calculated by determining a bat’s weight compared to its length. An example would be a 32 inch and 28 oz bat would be a -4. Bats can be anything from a -3 used in adult baseball up to a -12 which would be a lightweight bat used for example in children’s sport.

The debate over which is the better material for bats continues as many baseballers choose the aluminum/composite bat. They are lighter, more durable and more cost effective. Wooden bats are not as popular but are used in professional baseball.

When choosing a bat check the grips and make sure they are comfortable for your child. Rubber grips can lessen the shock to your hands when the ball connects but synthetic or leather grips can make the surface less sticky and make for a surer grip.

The diameter of the bats handle is also a factor when choosing a bat. A wider handle usually indicates that the bat is a heavier bat but may have less sting on the hands when the ball is hit.

Choosing the right bat may also mean being familiar with the rules governing the types and sizes of bats allowed for the competition you are playing in-check this before you purchase.

Take all of these factors into consideration when purchasing your baseball bat. It must feel right for you as well as being able to give you maximum opportunities to connect with the ball. Good luck!

Baseball drills that create head-turning power at the plate are something that every baseball player can benefit from. Sure, good hitters are known for making consistent contact with the baseball, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the harder the ball is hit, the more likely it is to find a hole or a gap. This power at the plate is the difference in being a good hitter and a great hitter, and great hitters get noticed. Just one single extra base hit for every ten at-bats can mean the difference in a 0.200 batting average and a 0.300 batting average, and that little extra “pop” on the ball is the easiest way to get those extra hits. Power is everything, and it is well known that hitting power is created with bat speed. Luckily, there are some great hitting drills and techniques that can be used to harness this power in any player. There are two specific baseball drills that are very good at increasing bat speed and hitting power.

Before discussing these specific hitting drills, it is first important to understand how a hitter creates power. A hitter creates power through bat speed, and a hitter’s bat speed is created through the efficient transfer of energy from the batter’s body to the bat. Many people believe that this energy is created with the batter’s arms, but in fact, this energy is created through efficiently transferring a hitter’s body weight from his back foot to his front foot during the swing. The important term to remember is “efficient.” Every batter that swings a baseball bat shifts his weight when swinging, but power hitters have strong cores and excellent balance. This keeps their bodies compact so that almost all of the energy created though the weight-shift is transferred directly to the bat. So the two keys to increasing bat speed and hitting power are balance and having a compact swing.

Hitting Power and Bat Speed Drill #1

This first hitting drill addresses one of the biggest problems that many hitters have when trying to hit for power. They simply do not have a compact swing. What do I mean? Weak hitters do not keep their elbows close to their bodies, and they over-stride when stepping toward the ball. This “flailing” of limbs results in a very weak swing because so much energy is being lost in the additional motion instead of being transferred directly to the bat. To transfer the maximum amount of energy to the bat, a hitter must keep his elbows close to his body and he must take a short, balanced stride. This allows the energy from the weight-shift to be efficiently transferred from the legs, up through the core, and finally to the arms. This creates the greatest amount of bat speed and hitting power.

An excellent drill for keeping a compact swing is to place small objects under the hitter’s arms and between his knees while practicing hitting from a tee or during soft-toss. The objects under the arms can be anything small and soft that the hitter can hold against his body with his elbows while not interrupting his swing. Rags or towels rolled up into tubes and taped work great for this drill. The object between the knees should be a light and soft spherical-shaped object. For older players, a volleyball works great. For younger players, you might need to find some other small ball-shaped object. The idea is for the player to hold these objects under his arms and between his knees during soft-toss or while hitting from a tee to practice keeping his limbs close to his body. This drill forces the batter to have a compact swing and an efficient transfer of energy from his body to the bat.

Hitting Power and Bat Speed Drill #2

The second baseball drill to improve hitting power at the plate addresses a hitter’s balance. Similar to having a compact swing, balance is critical because having bad balance also causes a batter to have poor energy transfer to the bat during the swing. We’ve all seen the young batter that tries to swing too hard and actually loses his balance while stepping back away from the plate. While this is a very common problem for young hitters as they try to hit the ball farther, this poor-balance approach actually prevents the batter from hitting the baseball as far as he could.

A great drill for practicing good balance is to have the hitter stand on a flat 2 x 12 inch board while hitting from a tee or while taking soft toss. This board should be about six feet in length and can be purchased at any lumber yard or most home improvement stores. The idea is for the hitter to stride directly forward toward the ball without falling off the board. Over time, this baseball drill teaches the hitter to have good balance, and it prevents stepping backward. This improved balance will absolutely improve a hitter’s bad speed and hitting power.

To summarize, to improve a hitter’s bat speed and hitting power, one must focus on having a compact swing and good balance. The above two baseball drills focus on these two factors, and over time, they will ultimately help a hitter improve his power. However, this only scratches the surface of improving bat speed and creating power at the plate. If you are interested in further improvements, I encourage you to keep learning about this incredibly important baseball skill!

What Baseball refers to as a player being a “Five Tool Player” is nearly an extinct aberration. In today’s Baseball world of specialization, the idea of an athlete being capable of performing all five keys of a ball player, minus the pitching position, at a Star level, has all but been forgotten or given up on. I personally do not agree with the experts and believe a “Five Tool Player” can exist.

Let’s briefly look at the Five Keys and arrive at least upon one drill to enhance that Skill.

Arm Strength: The ability to throw a baseball with high velocity, accuracy and distance is one of the primary skills a scout will look for in a prospect. This is particularly important for the positions of right field, center field, third base and shortstop, but has an impact regardless of position.

One drill which will increase arm strength is the Long Toss which essentially is what it says, throwing the baseball greater and greater distances as the arm strength increases. The key to long toss is to have a goal in mind of distance you want to achieve, then slowly build up to that distance.

For instance, your goal is to throw from right field to third base on one hop. You begin by throwing from right field to second base, increasing velocity and accuracy, then proceed to throwing to the shortstop position, then on to third base. This building block method provides you with a method to track your progress, and will help hold you back from throwing too hard too fast, thusly injuring the arm.

Fielding: Theoretically, a normal ground ball is harder to catch than a normal fly ball for two reasons, because of the low position the body must be in in order to field the ball and the unknown and unexpected variables of field conditions which could affect the travel of the baseball. In other words, bad hops.

One drill which would greatly improve your ground ball fielding skills is the Knee Drill. You can perform this drill by yourself, which is a great asset, with the use of a rubber or tennis ball and a flat wall to bounce the ball off of.

Position yourself on your knees, with or without your glove, I suggest using the glove making it a natural part of the hand, and bounce the ball against the wall. By eliminating the use of the legs, moving to the ball, you concentrate solely on eye to hand to ball coordination. This greatly increases the ability to develop soft and quick hands, a fielding must.

Hitting For Power: The ability to tie or win a ball game with one swing of the bat is another tool of a Five Tool player, the Home Run. For whatever reason, baseball has evolved to the point that scouts expect certain positions to be played by power hitters. A right fielder for example, will have a hard time attracting attention without a power bat.

The Tire Drill is a simple method to increase the power of your swing. Simply hang a tire, minus the wheel, from a trim limb or other suitable support at the proper level.

Using a proper batting stance and swing, strike the tire as hard as possible. Initially your swing will quickly and abruptly stop at hitting such a heavy object, but as your power increases and you learn to not only hit the tire, but hit through the tire, the tire will move and your bat will continue through the zone.

Hitting For Average: Hitting for a higher average than a normal power hitter, can be greatly enhanced and achieved with a mental attitude adjustment.

Being a power hitter, unless the situation demands a home run attempt, once a hitter has Two Strikes he should immediately back out of the box, take a deep breath and change his mental purpose from hitting the ball hard to making contact with the ball.

By choking up on the bat, cutting down on his swing and mentally attempting to just make contact, the hitter will greatly reduce strike outs and increase the batting average with base hits.

Running Speed: God gives a player natural running abilities and speed, but whatever natural talents you have, they can be increased with work.

One such method, utilized when attempting to steal bases, is the Keep Low drill. Without going into detail, sprinters begin their race low and as they run, slowly raise their body up to running posture, which increases speed.

Position yourself at first base as a base stealer, approximately 6 to 8 feet to your right, towards second base, have the coach or someone, hold his arm out at chest level. As you begin to steal, if you make contact with the arm, you’re raising up too soon and costing yourself speed. Practice this until you can always get pass the arm before raising, maximizing your quickness.

It is almost puzzling to make sense of what importance cleats have to your child’s game. However, the cleats are a very important part of his grip on the ground while they are running around.

With cleats, the child is more at ease while walking, especially if the cleats are of decent quality and made of the right quality materials. Cleats always give the child an extra advantage needed to steal the next base, especially if they are light enough and comfortable to walk in. Since stealing and running is an important part of just about any sport, this is obviously a huge thing.

Your budget is still an important part to care about unless you just have a ton of money to throw around. Whenever you are out in the market remember that you are only buying the stuff for sport to use. You do not want to run down your cash balance because of one item since so many other things will probably need to be purchases as well.

It is, however, safe to buy stuff that is of mid-range. Mid-range priced cleats normally carry both quality and the benefit of being affordable.

The problem with buying cheap cleats is that they will prove to cost you much in the long run because they don’t last long, meaning you need to replace them really soon. They are less comfortable too.

When it comes to expensive cleats, there is not that much of a benefit because the only extra advantage is very small, so small that it cannot justify the extra spending. Remember that children’s feet grow really fast and you wouldn’t spend $100 or more as a result.

After all that, it is best to just buy professional cleats that are priced well so you can have the best quality and be safe knowing they will not fail you. They will step up your child’s game play as well since the quality material will protect their feet. That is what a worthy spend should do when you invest that type of money into them.

Note that if you choose to purchase low-budget cleats for the lad, he will probably not benefit a lot. He may be uncomfortable and as a result the morale will nose dive. His full potential will not be met if the moral is not there. Therefore, suitability to your child and the middle price range is what you should think about.

The game of baseball is one of America’s favorite national pastimes. Even though it has been a much beloved and popular sport in the U.S. for over a century, baseball has a long history in many countries around the world as well.

The first World Championships in baseball were held in London in 1938. A series of five games were played between teams from the U.S. and the U.K. The British team won four games and the championship. Soon after this World Cup, the United Kingdom founded the International Baseball Federation.

In 1949 the first Caribbean Baseball World Series was held. Teams from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Panama, and Venezuela participated. Despite the Cuban teams dominating influence, Fidel Castro eliminated professional baseball in 1961. The Caribbean Series restarted again in 1970 without the Cuban teams and included teams from Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Cuba was first introduced to baseball in the 1860s by American sailors and by Cubans who studied in the U.S. and formed baseball teams when they returned home. The Cuban League was formed in 1878, but because Castro abolished professional sports in 1961, they were replaced by the amateur Cuban National Series. Talented players raised and trained in Cuba are highly sought after by U.S. major league baseball clubs hoping to recruit them.

Baseball was introduced to the Dominican Republic during the 1870s by Cuban sugar planters fleeing the Ten Years War raging on their island. Soon many semi-professional baseball clubs were founded as the game’s popularity increased. With the influence of the U.S. occupation from 1916 to 1924, professional baseball teams like Santo Domingo’s Tigres de Licey were formed. The Dominican Republic is currently the world’s largest exporter of baseball players that make up at least nine percent of active MLB rosters.

Baseball is one of Japan’s most popular sports. Introduced in 1872, the first professional competitions were not held until the 1920s. Their current league, Nippon Professional Baseball, consists of two leagues of six teams each. Asian countries like Korea and Taiwan also have professional baseball teams. Over the course of 27 years Taiwan has won 17 Little League World Series Championships, second only to the United States. They have also won Olympic medals. Taiwan won the bronze in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the silver in Barcelona in 1992.

The European Baseball Confederation was founded in 1953 to organize all international competitions within Europe. Italy and the Netherlands have so far dominated all the European competitions with the most titles won between them.

Although baseball is played around the world, it remains a very popular sport in the Americas. It is the most popular sport in Nicaragua and Panama, and only ranks second to soccer in Mexico. Canadians have been playing baseball since the 1800s and had the Montreal Expos (now known as the Washington Nationals) and the Toronto Blue Jays included in the American League.

Many countries have a long history of playing baseball. Whether the game evolved with the help of Americans working abroad or American military personnel stationed there, baseball is not just America’s pastime.