Japan's 27-game winstreak snapped at home soil as Taiwan claims maiden WBSC Premier12 title; USA settles for bronze

An upset of gargantuan proportions happened during this year's WBSC Premier12 final when Japan was stunned by challengers Taiwan to claim its maiden tournament title. Taiwan, competing as Chinese Taipei internationally, left fans shocked at the jampacked Tokyo Dome in Japan's capital after shutting out the home squad on Sunday night, local time.

Japan was left dazed and confused as they lost to the visitors via a 4-0 shutout in the grand final. The early portions of the finale were a pitcher's duel between four-time NPB All-Star Shosei Togo for Japan and minor leaguer Yu-Min Lin for Taiwan.

The slow game then came to life in the fifth inning after Taiwan blasted two home runs courtesy of Chia-Cheng Lin and Chieh-Hsien Chen. Lin broke the scoreless deadlock with a solo shot to right center. It was then followed up by a three-run dinger by Taiwan captain Chen to push the scoreline to 4-0.

"Chen Chieh-Hsien with a three run homer and Taiwan leads 4-0!!" - @ Jeff Duda

The beauty of the international game was on full display in the Premier12 as Taiwanese pitchers Chang Yi and Kuan-Yu Chen came in relief to hold the game for the visitors.

Both of the pitchers mentioned plied their trade in Japan's NPB league, as the former was a part of the Orix Buffaloes and Saitama Seibu Lions and the latter was a member of the Yokohama BayStars and Chiba Lotte Marines.

The pair of relievers iced the game before Kai-Wei Lin put the contest to rest and gave Taiwan its biggest international win in its history.

"Chinese Taipei Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS Champions!" - @ WBSC

For his efforts and after posting an enviable stat line during the tournament, Taiwan captain Chieh-Hsien Chen was named the 2024 Premier12 MVP. The 30-year-old posted a .625 batting average with an OPS of 1.617 during the duration of the event.

Baseball's second-most prestigious international tournament remains a stronghold for East Asian teams as Taiwan made its way to the gold medal column, joining 2015 winners South Korea and 2019 winners Japan. The closest that a non-East Asian team came to winning gold was in the inaugural 2015 event when the United States settled for silver.

USA clamps down Venezuela to claim Premier12 bronze medal

After sending a relatively unfancied lineup that was headlined by 44-year-old Rich Hill, the United States claimed this year's Premier12 bronze medal after besting Venezuela, 6-1, in their clash at the Tokyo Dome on Sunday afternoon in Japan.

Former Seattle Mariner Casey Lawrence played a starring role in the bronze medal matchup for the Stars and Stripes. The 37-year-old pitched six innings of no-run ball with seven strikeouts and gave up just four base hits. MLB Pipeline's No. 4 prospect Carson Williams opened the scoring in the top of the third via a sac fly.

A hit by pitch to Colby Thomas then sent Justin Crawford, who was at third with the bases loaded, to home plate. Team USA strung up more runs to push the scoreline to 6-1, but the Venezuelans failed to respond.

The win gave the USA its first bronze medal and second overall after it won a silver in the first Premier12 event in 2015.