The Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) has arrived with an exciting slate of games to play out, starting on Wednesday.
With the Grand Slam Parade on Tuesday and the opening ceremonies on Wednesday, the greatest tournament for 12-year-olds ever conceived will take center stage once again, as the United States will aim for a sixth consecutive championship.
This year will be somewhat different than those in years past. The most obvious difference is that this year will not feature a team from California. Just last year, El Segundo, California won the championship. Now, there isn't a single team from California in this year's tournament.
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That said, this year's tournament is still expected to bring unforgettable moments, as 10 American teams duke it out with 10 international teams to determine the best in the world. Follow along live as we cover this year's Little League World Series:
Hawaii seemed to be on track to get their three-run lead back after a leadoff double to start the bottom of the fifth. Dupuis struck out the next three batters, two of them looking, to ensure Hawaii's lead remained at two.
With one opportunity left, New Hampshire needs two runs to keep this game going. Hawaii leads 3-1.
After a stellar start to his outing, Nakama struggled in the fifth inning, issuing three walks and allowing New Hampshire to bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
With the bases juiced and two outs, Hawaii opted for Kamalei Leynes-Santos, who surrendered a single to Colton Johnson, New Hampshire's first hit of the game. New Hampshire got on the board, and although the team failed to score anymore, they've gained some momentum heading into the bottom of the fifth.
After getting the first two batters on base, a strikeout, fielders' choice and slow bouncer back to the pitcher kept Hawaii off the scoreboard for the third consecutive inning.
Hawaii has been able to rattle New Hampshire's Nolan Dupuis but through 1.1 innings, Hawaii has had four baserunners but has not been able to get anyone across.
After nine consecutive outs via punchout to kick off the game, New Hampshire's Kevin McDonough was able to bounce a ball back to the pitcher. Even though it was an easy 1-3 putout, it's good to see New Hampshire starting to get metal on the ball.
Jacob Guerrero-Lomba flew out to deep right field the very next plate appearance.
After a rocky first inning, New Hampshire starter Colton Johnson calmed down and dominated for the next 1.2 innings. After retiring the first two hitters of the third inning and tallying over 40 pitches, Johnson was pulled from the game in favor of left-hander Nolan Dupuis.
After entering with one out in the top of the third inning, Nakama strikes out two more batters swinging. Hawaiian pitchers have struck out the last seven batters, and all nine retired New Hampshire batters have gone down striking out.
Hawaii's starting pitcher exits after striking out a seventh batter. He faced nine total batters and got all of his outs in 2 1/3 innings via the strikeout. Kanon Nakama enters in relief, and Tavares moves to the outfield.
After Kolten Magno reached base on a fielding error by New Hampshire's second baseman, Johnson induced a popout, groundout and flyout in order to keep Hawaii off of the board in the second.
After a nearly 30-minute rain delay, the second game of the day starts back up. Hawaii is up to bat in the bottom of the second inning.
The game between the West champions Hawaii and the New England champs New Hampshire has been delayed due to rain. Hawaii leads 3-0 in the middle of the second inning.
Through two innings, Hawaii's southpaw starter has gone six up, six down. All of them have been via the strikeout. Hawaii seems to be in absolute control of this game early on.
Nerves might be getting the best of New Hampshire pitcher Colton Johnson early on.
Johnson struggled to find the strike zone, walking Hawaii's leadoff man on just five pitches. His next pitch was hit back up the middle off Johnson's glove and led to an infield single. Johnson then needed a great diving stop from his second baseman in order to get the first out of the inning, but he was in trouble with two runners in scoring position with only one away.
Johnson didn't help his case by plunking the next batter on the elbow. With the bases juiced and only one out, New Hampshire coach Jim Briggs came out to talk to Johnson before taking on Hayden Takahashi. It didn't help though. Takahashi drilled the first pitch into the 3-4 hole to drive in the first two runs of the game.
The damage was not done though. Another single would drive in Hawaii's third run. Johnson would get out of the inning without suffering any more runs, but not before loading the bases again. Hawaii leads 3-0 heading into the top of the second.
Hernandez completes the combined no-hitter by striking out Keon Croes swinging. Mexico wins the first game of the 2024 LLWS tournament and will move on to face the Latin America regional champions: Cardenales Little League out of Venezuela.
Aruba is still alive in this double-elimination tournament. They move into the elimination bracket and will play the loser of Cuba/Europe-Africa on Saturday.
The Mexican reliever gets a swinging strikeout from Diliano Raven on three pitches. Mexico is one out away from a combined no-hitter.
Guerrero and Hernandez swap places to begin the top of the sixth inning. Hernandez takes the mound, and Guerrero moves back to shortstop.
Hernandez starts the inning by snagging a comeback line drive, and Mexico is two outs away from their first LLWS win of the tournament.
The New England region winner will face the West region winner in the second game of the tournament and first game on the United States side of the bracket. The game will start on ESPN2 but will move to ESPN when the Aruba-Mexico game ends.
Mexico's starter hit his 85-pitch limit but kept his sheet clean by inducing an Angela groundout to second base to finish the fifth inning. He tallied 12 Ks and allowed zero hits to Aruba with his strong performance, and Mexico still leads, 2-0.
Guerrero's strikeout streak ends at eight straight when he issues a walk to Toledo. The shortstop had worked a full count before taking ball four low and inside to get on as Aruba's first baserunner in several innings.
Mexico's dominating starting pitcher is up to eight strikeouts in a row – and 12 total – through 4 2/3 innings. Guerrero started the fifth inning with one strikeout looking and followed it up with a strikeout swinging. He has not allowed a hit to Aruba, though he's at 73 pitches with a strict 85-pitch limit.
Up 1-2 with the bases loaded and two outs, the Aruban pitcher couldn't quite escape the jam. He hits Luis Longoria with the fourth pitch of the at-bat and a run scores. He forced a groundout from the next batter, but it's 2-0 Mexico through four.
Aruba's first baseman makes an excellent barehanded play on a bunt to throw out the lead runner at third base. It's a big first out for his team, which still faces a runner in scoring position with one out in the fourth.
A walk then a fielding error by Aruba's shortstop means Mexico's first two batters of the inning have reached base. It's still 1-0 Mexico with a chance for more with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Mexico's starting pitcher has struck out six batters in a row and is through four no-hit innings with 10 strikeouts. Guerrero has been dominant with his fastball – which has sat in the mid-70s – and off-speed offerings.
After a few wild pitches allowed Gonzalez to advance to third base, the Aruban starter induced an inning-ending groundout. It keeps Mexico from adding insurance runs, but the Caribbean regional winner still trails, 1-0.
Mexico led off the inning with a Sergio Gonzalez infield single. One batter later, Aruban center fielder Arnold Martha made a leaping catch while diving to his left to rob Dominic Balderas of a hit that might have gone for extra bases and an RBI.
Mexico's starter struck out three more batters after a leadoff walk in the top of the third inning. He's up to seven Ks in the game and still has not allowed a hit.
After allowing one run to score, Angela faced some more trouble when Santiago Sotelo singled and moved to second base on a throwing error. The Aruban starter kept him stranded in scoring position after inducing a groundout from the next batter.
The cleanup hitter advanced to second on a bunt, then scored from there on a dropped third strike thanks to aggressive baserunning. An Aruba-initiated review confirmed the call of safe at home.
After neither team picked up a hit in the first inning, Ortiz hits a single off of the center field wall and becomes Mexico's first baserunner of the game.
The Mexican starting pitcher is up to four strikeouts in the game after getting two more in the second inning – one looking to start it and one swinging to end it. He did allow his first baserunner on a walk but still has not given up a hit.
Angela led off for Aruba to start the second inning, and Guerrero struck out his starting pitcher counterpart looking on three pitches.
Aruba's starter struck out rival starter Guerrero on four pitches, induced a groundout to second base then a check-swing groundout to third in a perfect first inning of his own.
Mexico's starting pitcher begins the game with a three-pitch strikeout, getting Aruba's leadoff batter looking on a 76 mph fastball. He finished off the perfect first inning with a groundout to shortstop and another strikeout looking.
The champions of the Caribbean region and Mexico region are ready to face off in the first game of the 2024 Little League World Series.
The two teams are kicking off the international side of the bracket. The winner will play the Cardenales Little League – the Latin America regional champion that was randomly given a "bye" into the next round.
Aruba is back in the LLWS for the first time since 2011. Matamoros is making history as the first LLWS team featuring a trio of brothers as its coaches.
2024 Little League World Series: Time, TV, streaming and how to watch
All 38 games of the Little League World Series will be broadcast on one of ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. The action will start Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET, with eight hours of coverage the first day.
Each game can also be streamed on ESPN+ or Fubo , the latter of which offers a free trial.
The LLWS championship game is slated for Sunday, Aug. 25, at 3 p.m. ET. The third-place consolation game will take place the same day at 10 a.m. ET.
The international and U.S. championship games — which serve as the semifinals to Sunday's championship game — will take place on Saturday, Aug. 24 at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. ET, respectively.
The Little League World Series is split into two brackets: the United States bracket and the international bracket. Each bracket will play out their own individual tournaments, with the winner from each bracket facing each other in the championship.
The U.S. and international brackets are double-elimination brackets, meaning a team must lose twice before it is eliminated from the tournament.
Great Lakes - Hinsdale Little League - Hinsdale, Illinois
Metro - Sou th Shore Little League - Staten Island, New York
Mid-Atlantic - Council Rock Newtown Little League - Newtown, Pennsylvania
Midwest - S ioux Falls Little League - Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Mountain - Paseo Verde Little League - Henderson, Nevada
New England - Salem Little League - Salem, New Hampshire
Northwest - South Hill Little League - Puyallup, Washington
Southeast - Lake Mary Little League - Lake Mary, Florida
Southwest - Boerne Little League - Boerne, Texas
West - Central East Maui Little League - Wailuku, Hawaii
Asia-Pacific - Ku ei-Shan Lit tle League - Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei
Australia - Hills Little League - Sydney, New South Wales
Canada - Whalley Little League - Surrey, British Columbia
Caribbean - Aruba Center Little League - Santa Cruz, Aruba
Cuba - Santa Clara Little League - Villa Clara, Cuba
Europe-Africa - South Czech Republic Little League - Brno, Czech Republic
Japan - Johoku Little League - Tokyo, Japan
Latin America - Cardenales Little League - Barquisimeto, Venezuela
Mexico - Matamoros Little League - Tamaulipas, Mexico
Puerto Rico - Radames Lopez Little League - Guayama, Puerto Rico
Here is the full 2024 LLWS bracket, courtesy of the Little League World Series:
Teams from the United States have dominated the Little League World Series as of late, having won each of the last five dating back to 2017. The last international team to win the tournament was Japan, who beat Lufkin, Texas 12-2 in just five innings in the 2017 final.
List of past winners:
Results date back to 2010 LLWS.
- 2023: El Segundo, Calif.
- 2022: Honolulu
- 2021: Taylor, Mich.
- 2020: Canceled due to COVID
- 2019: River Ridge, La.
- 2018: Honolulu
- 2017: Tokyo
- 2016: Maine-Endwell, N.Y.
- 2015: Tokyo
- 2014: Seoul, South Korea
- 2013: Tokyo
- 2012: Tokyo
- 2011: Huntington Beach, Calif.
- 2010: Tokyo
The seventh annual MLB Little League Classic will take place on Monday, Aug. 18 at 7 p.m. ET with the New York Yankees taking on the Detroit Tigers in Williamsport. The game will air on ESPN.
ESPN will broadcast all four games on Wednesday.
All times Eastern.
LLWS Round 1
- Caribbean Region vs. Mexico Region, 1 p.m. | Volunteer Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
- New England Region vs. West Region, 3 p.m. | Lamade Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
- Asia-Pacific Region vs. Canada Region, 5 p.m. | Volunteer Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
- Southeast Region vs. Midwest Region, 7 p.m. | Lamade Stadium, Williamsport, Pennsylvania
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Little League World Series live: Updates, highlights as Mexico leads Aruba at LLWS
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