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Wednesday, January 07, 2009 |
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Little League Baseball Tournament Overview
All Many casual observers know that the Little League World Series is played each summer in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. For those teams that make it to Williamsport in late August, the journey actually begins in mid-June. The road to Williamsport begins with the selection of all-star teams by each league that is competing in the international tournament. Each league selects up to 14 players (who must be eleven or twelve year olds on August 1 of the tournament year) from the teams that compete in the league, and these players represent the league in tournament play. The leagues also select coaches and a manager for the all-star team. The method used to select players for their league's tournament team varies from league to league, and is typically determined by the local league's rules and bylaws. District Tournaments Tournament play in North America begins around July 1, when most district tournaments begin. These are very de-centralized events -- while all games in all districts worldwide are played under the same rules, local preferences will influence the tournament site and schedule. For instance, some districts hold all games at one site, and the tournament host role rotates from year-to-year. Other districts use multiple tournament sites, with varying standards to determine where the championship game will be held. Most tournaments use double-elimination or Olympic-style pool play formats for district tournament competition, though a few districts still use single-elimination tournaments to determine their champions. In many large or geographically dispersed districts, teams first compete in area tournaments, which typically involve only 4 or 5 teams. The area tournament survivors would then compete for the district title. By Little League Baseball rules, area tournament losses are carried over to the district tournament in double-elimination events. Sectional Tournaments After district champions are crowned, the survivors move on to the next level of tournament play. In many larger states, this is a sectional tournament. Here, district champions compete for the right to advance to the state tournament. As with district tournaments, local preferences influence the tournament site and schedule. Some sectional tournaments are held at a single site, while others are held at sites within a single district or at the fields of the participating teams. Depending on the state, sectional tournaments use single-elimination, double-elimination, or round-robin formats. District losses do not carry over to the sectional tournament. In most states with only a handful of districts, district champions proceed directly to the state tournament. States that use sectional tournaments include California (both Northern and Southern), Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas (both East and West). State/Provincial/Country Tournaments State tournaments commence at the end of July. The number of participants in the state tournament varies by state. For instance, Virginia sends all 15 of its district champions to a double-elimination state tournament, while Kansas' two district champions play a best 2-of-3 series to determine the state champion. A handful of states are comprised of only one district (North/South Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming); in these states, the district champion becomes the state champion. 52 U.S. teams advance beyond the state tournament level, including two California teams (separate champions for Northern and Southern California), two Texas teams (separate champions for Texas East and Texas West), and the champions from the District of Columbia. North and South Dakota crown a single champion for the district that spans the two states. In Canada, district champions move on to provincial tournaments. These five tournaments determine five of the six teams that will compete in the Canadian Region tournament. Provincial tournaments are held to determine the champions of British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic Provinces (comprised of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, though not all of these provinces have leagues), and the Prairie Provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba). Other countries determine their national champion in a tournament involving all of the country's district champions, or, in nations with fewer charters, in a national tournament involving all leagues. National champions in each country advance to region tournaments. Countries in the European Region may hold separate national tournaments for leagues comprised primarily of native- and non-native players, due to the format of region tournaments in Europe. The European Region encompasses leagues in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Region Tournaments U.S. Region Tournaments are currently held at Bristol, CT; Gulfport, FL; Indianapolis, IN; San Bernardino, CA; and Waco, TX. Each location is a U.S. Region headquarter, and has playing fields, practice fields, and billeting to house upwards of 200 players who descend on the facility for region tournament competition. Two region tournaments are held in Bristol, Indianapolis, and San Bernardino, while Gulfport and Waco each host a single tournament. In each region tournament, preliminary round games determine two finalists who then meet in a winner-take-all championship game that is televised live on ESPN2. The states competing in each of the eight U.S. regional tournaments are as follows: Great Lakes Region (Indianapolis, IN) -- Champions from Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Mid-Atlantic Region (Bristol, CT) -- Champions from Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Midwest Region (Indianapolis, IN) -- Champions from Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and North/South Dakota. New England Region (Bristol, CT) -- Champions from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Northwest Region (San Bernardino, CA) -- Champions from Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Southeast Region (Gulfport, FL) -- Champions from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Southwest Region (Waco, TX) -- Champions from Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas East, and Texas West. West Region (San Bernardino, CA) -- Champions from Arizona, Nevada, Northern California, Southern California, Utah, and Wyoming. The Canadian Region tournament rotates from site to site each year. The tournament typically moves from one province to another, and when it is scheduled to be in a particular province, interested leagues submit bids to host the tournament. The five survivors of provincial tournaments compete along with a host team in a six-team, round-robin tournament. The top four teams after the five days of round-robin play advance to semifinal round games, and two semifinal winners advance to the championship game. The winner of the championship game advances to the Little League World Series as the Canadian champion. Other region tournaments are also round-robin events, and typically use a pool play format to narrow the field to four teams who then compete in single-elimination semifinal and championship round games. Like Canada, Mexico sends its national champion to the Little League World Series. The other six Little League World Series qualifiers are champions from the Asian Region, the Caribbean Region, the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) Region, the Latin American Region, the Pacific Region, and the Trans-Atlantic Region. The EMEA Region consists of leagues comprised primarily of players native to their league's country, while the Trans-Atlantic Region includes leagues primarily comprised of players not native to the country in which their league is located. Trans-Atlantic Region leagues typically are comprised of dependents of military personnel, international organizations, and oil company workers. For more information on the Little League World Series, visit the official Little League Baseball web site. Little League World Series The eight U.S. survivors and the eight international winners advance to the Little League World Series, which is held in late August each year at Little League Baseball's international headquarters in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Since 1976, the tournament pairings have been arranged so that U.S. teams compete for one championship game slot, and international teams compete for the other. Since 1992, the Little League World Series has used an Olympic-style, pool play format. Teams are divided into four pools, two of which will contain U.S. teams, and two of which consist of international teams. Teams in each pool play a round-robin schedule that guarantees each team three games. The top two teams in each pool advance to a single-elimination phase of the tournament, with U.S. teams on one side of the bracket and international teams on the other side. The two U.S. quarterfinal winners then meet for the U.S. title and the two international survivors face off in the international semifinal. The two survivors then meet in a nationally-televised, prime time championship game. The entire tournament process involves over 37,000 games played worldwide, with the vast majority of games being played over an eight week time span. By contrast, there are only 2,430 games played over the course of a 162-game major league baseball season.
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