Tournament Format
The tournament started in 1981. 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 ten regions. The ten 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 championship. All matches are double elimination games. The losing teams face off in classification games.
Originally only US teams played in the tournament. But as time progressed, international teams began to participate. Mexico first played in 1986, Canada in 1988, the first European team in 1990, and youth baseball powerhouse Taiwan in 2010. Prior to 2001 Mexico and Puerto Rico received automatic berths into the tournament. But as competition increased, a Latin America regional tournament was formed in 2001. Now Mexico receives an automatic berth to the tournament in even numbered years, and Puerto Rico in odd numbered years, (each team can still represent Latin America, when they do not have an automatic bid).
The United States Pool consists of the regional champions from the Central, East, Southeast, Southwest, and West regions. The International Pool consists of the regional champions from five regions: Puerto Rico or Mexico, Latin America, Canada, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa).
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