2015 WBSC Premier12

2015 WBSC Premier12
Semi-final game between Japan and South Korea
Tournament details
CountriesJapan
Taiwan
DatesNovember 8–21
Teams12
Final positions
Champions South Korea (1st title)
Runner-up United States
Third place Japan
Fourth place Mexico
Tournament statistics
Games played38
Attendance235,951 (6,209 per game)
MVPSouth Korea Kim Hyun-soo
Venezuela national baseball team on November 7, 2015

The 2015 WBSC Premier12 was an international baseball championship sponsored by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the inaugural event of the WBSC Premier12. It was held from November 8 to 21 in Taiwan and Japan.[1] The South Korean national team won the championship, and split a US$1 million prize.[2][3]

The top twelve teams in the WBSC World Rankings qualified to participate in the tournament, which began with two groups of six teams playing in a round-robin format for the first round. The tournament then continued with the top four teams in each group playing in the knockout stage, leading to the championship game.[1] In the final, South Korea defeated United States 8–0 to win their first WBSC Premier12 title, and became the first nation to win the championship.[4][5][6] Japan finished in third place, while Mexico finished in fourth place.[7] South Korea's Hyun-soo Kim won the Most Valuable Player Award. Shohei Ohtani of Japan had the lowest earned run average of the tournament, and Hayato Sakamoto, also of Japan, was named the tournament's most outstanding defensive player.[5] The next edition 2019 WBSC Premier12 will be hosted in Japan[8]

  1. ^ a b Coskrey, Jason (January 19, 2015). "Japan to co-host Premier 12 baseball world tourney". The Japan Times. Tokyo. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference money was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Axisa, Mike (November 20, 2015). "USA and South Korea advance to Premier 12 championship game". CBS Sports. New York. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  4. ^ "S. Korea pounds U.S. 8–0 for championship". Yonhap. Seoul. November 21, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Coskrey, Jason (November 21, 2015). "South Korea crushes U.S. to win Premier 12 title". Japan Times. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference taipeitimes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Japan KO's Mexico 11–1 to win bronze at WBSC Premier12". WBSC. November 21, 2015. Archived from the original on November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  8. ^ "WBSC awards Premier12 2019/Olympic Qualifier hosting rights to Japan's NPB for 2nd Round and Finals".