The Junior League World Series is a baseball tournament for children aged 12, 13, and 14 years old.Junior League Baseball . Little League. Retrieved 2010-08-22. The tournament is held annually at Heritage Park in Taylor, Michigan. It is patterned after the Little League World Series, which was named for the World Series in Major League Baseball.
The Junior League World Series is one of eleven tournaments sponsored by Little League International. Each of them brings baseball or softball teams from around the world together in one of four age divisions. The tournament structure for each division's World Series is similar to that used for the Little League Baseball World Series.
Tournament history
The tournament started in 1981, and was originally created for 13-year-old players competing in Little League's Senior League division (which at the time included 13- to 15-year-olds). In 1999, Little league spun a separate Junior League division off from the Senior League division, which included 13- and 14-year-old players (currently, 15-year-olds are also eligible if their date of birth is after May 1 of the current season). Unlike the Little League World Series — which has sixteen regions (eight in the U.S. and eight international) — the Junior League World Series has only twelve regions.2010 Junior League Regional Tournaments and World Series Results . Little League Baseball Incorporated. Retrieved 2010-08-22. The twelve regional champions are divided into two pools (USA and International). The two best teams from each pool advance to the semi-finals, to determine the US champion and the International champion. The semi-final winners play for the World Series Championship. The losing teams face off in classification games.
Originally only US teams played in the tournament. As time progressed, however, international teams began to participate. The Puerto Rico Region was established as the first international region, in 1982. The Mexico Region followed in 1986, the Canada Region in 1988, the first European team in 1990, and the Australia Region in 2016. Prior to 2000, the Mexico and Puerto Rico regions each received automatic berths into the tournament. In 2000, a Latin America Region was formed and included the former Mexico and Puerto Rico regions. Starting in 2004, the Mexico Region now receives an automatic berth to the tournament in even-numbered years, while the Puerto Rico Region receives an automatic berth in odd-numbered years. (Each year, the teams from the region without an automatic berth instead participate in the Latin America Region tournament.) From 1985–89 the Michigan state champion received a slot as the Host Team. In 2018, the Host Team was brought back to the tournament as the sixth United States region.
The six United States regions are: Central East Host Southeast Southwest West
The six International regions are: Asia–Pacific Australia Canada Europe–Africa Latin America Mexico or Puerto Rico
List of champions
YearWinnerRegionScoreRunner–UpRegion1981 Boardman, OhioCentral4–0 Richmond, VirginiaSouth1982 Tampa, FloridaSouth6–1 Libertyville, IllinoisCentral1983 Manatí, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico3–0 Altamonte Springs, FloridaSouth1984 Pearl City, HawaiiWest7–5 Yabucoa, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico1985 Tampa, FloridaSouth10–3 Salisbury, MarylandEast1986 Waldorf, MarylandEast4–3 Athens County, OhioCentral1987 Rowland Heights, Southern CaliforniaWest16–4 & 14–3 Wappinger, New YorkEast1988 Mexicali, MexicoMexico11–6 Hilo, HawaiiWest1989 Manatí, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico2–9 & 9–2 Toccoa, GeorgiaSouth1990 Yabucoa, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico6–4 San Antonio, TexasSouth1991 Spring, TexasSouth2–7 & 7–1 Henderson, NevadaWest1992 Tucson, ArizonaWest8–1 & 5–4 Lake Charles, LouisianaSouth1993 Cayey, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico9–1 Reynosa, MexicoMexico1994 Thousand Oaks, Southern CaliforniaWest20–3 Hamilton, OhioCentral1995 Lake Charles, LouisianaSouth3–4 & 8–2 Northridge, Southern CaliforniaWest1996 Spring, TexasSouth7–5 Aiea, HawaiiWest1997 Salem, New HampshireEast4–1 Mission Viejo, Southern CaliforniaWest1998 Mission Viejo, Southern CaliforniaWest6–2 & 9–6 Waco, TexasSouth1999 Arroyo, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico1–0 Hermosillo, MexicoMexico2000 Aiea, HawaiiWest2–1 Langley, CanadaCanada2001 Aiea, HawaiiWest6–5 San Francisco, VenezuelaLatin America2002 Cartersville, GeorgiaSouth3–2 David, PanamaLatin America2003 La Mirada, Southern CaliforniaWest8–7 Santiago, PanamaLatin America2004 Tampa, FloridaSouth5–2 Punto Fijo, VenezuelaLatin America2005 Panama City, PanamaLatin America3–0 Tarpon Springs, FloridaSouth2006 El Campo, East TexasSouthwest2–1 Guaymas, MexicoMexico2007 Pearl City, HawaiiWest6–2 Makati, PhilippinesAsia–Pacific2008 Willemstad, CuraçaoLatin America5–2 Hilo, HawaiiWest2009 Scottsdale, ArizonaWest9–1 Oranjestad, ArubaLatin America2010 Taipei, TaiwanAsia–Pacific9–1 Tyler, East TexasSouthwest2011 Tampa, FloridaSoutheast2–1 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific2012 Rockledge, FloridaSoutheast12–10 Oranjestad, ArubaLatin America2013 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific11–2 Rio Rico, ArizonaWest2014 Taichung, TaiwanAsia–Pacific9–1 Corpus Christi, West TexasSouthwest2015 Taichung, TaiwanAsia–Pacific12–0 Stephens City, VirginiaSoutheast2016 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific9–1 Kapaa, HawaiiWest2017 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific12–1(F/5) Kennett Square, PennsylvaniaEast2018 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific2–0 Lufkin, East TexasSouthwest2019 Fullerton, Southern CaliforniaWest8–3 Guayama, Puerto RicoPuerto Rico2020Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic20212022 Taichung, TaiwanAsia–Pacific7–1 Corpus Christi, West TexasSouthwest2023 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific6–0 Taylor, MichiganHost2024 Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–Pacific5–0 Taylor, MichiganHost2025 Taichung, TaiwanAsia–Pacific8–1 Macon, GeorgiaSoutheast2026 La Mirada, Southern CaliforniaWest6–3 (F/10) Taoyuan, TaiwanAsia–PacificYearWinnerRegionScoreRunner–UpRegion
Championships won by country/state
Team Championships Last Taiwan 11 2025 Southern California 6 2026 Puerto Rico 5 1999 Florida 2012 Hawaii 4 2007 Texas 3 2006 Arizona 2 2009 Ohio 1 1981 Maryland 1986 Mexico 1988 Louisiana 1995 New Hampshire 1997 Georgia 2002 Panama 2005 Curaçao 2008
See also List of Little League World Series champions by division
Footnotes
External links Junior League World Series. City of Taylor official website Little League homepage. Little League official website Junior League World Series Photographs. Official photographers of the Junior League World Series.