Asian Games 2023: Baseball preview, full schedule, how to watch baseball live at Hangzhou 2022
Who will win men's baseball at the Asian Games? Are there any Major League Baseball (MLB) players playing at the Asian Games 2023? Discover what you need to know.
Baseball Softball
Baseball is one of the medal sports on offer at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou taking place in 2023, with Republic of Korea, Japan, and Chinese Taipei looking to continue their hegemony over the medals.
Those three teams have won every single medal available in the sport since baseball first became a medal event in 1994.
While no current Major League Baseball (MLB) players are competing in the tournament, there will be players with MLB experience involved in the competition, including players who have played in the prestigious MLB postseason.
Additionally, the teams from Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei have selected strong professional teams.
Read on to find out the key men to watch.
Teams and players to watch in baseball at the 2023 Asian Games Hangzhou 2022
Some big names are competing in baseball is in Hangzhou, including Japan's Tazawa Junichi – who is an MLB World Series champion, having won the biggest trophy in domestic baseball with the Boston Red Sox in 2013.
Tazawa and his Japanese teammates will be one of the favourites to watch. Although represented by a team drawn from Japan's amateur and semi-pro corporate and industrial leagues (Japan's pro league, Nippon Professional Baseball, is about to conclude its regular season), Tazawa's experience in big moments will be key to helping Japan win just their second Asian Games gold medal in the sport and first since 1994.
The Republic of Korea, another baseball heavyweight, have won the event five times, including every year since 1998 except for a single blip in 2006. They have named a relatively young squad following a disappointing showing at the World Baseball Classic in March, naming an entire squad under the age of 25. However, unlike Japan, the South Koreans have called upon pro Korean Baseball Organization players, including KBO Most Valuable Player award winner Lee Jung-hoo.
Chinese Taipei, the only other team to have ever won gold in baseball at the Asian Games, is the third force to watch. They won gold in Doha in 2006 and should make the medal rounds once more, having also selected a team from its pro ranks. Lin Tzu-wei, a former MLB infielder with the Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, is perhaps the most recognisable name on the list.
The other teams competing are Singapore, Thailand, Lao PDR (first stage), People's Republic of China, Philippines (with Japan in Group A), and Hong Kong China (with Republic of Korea and Chinese Taipei in Group B). Two teams will move on from the first stage to the second round.
Baseball schedule at Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games in 2023: Game start times
All times China Standard Time (UTC +8 hours, JST/KST -1 hour, North American Eastern Time +12 hours)
Check back here after the fixture draw has been done to discover the exact teams playing in each game.
How to watch baseball at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 in 2023
To watch the 2022 Asian Games held in 2023, you can tune into the various TV broadcasters and on-demand streaming provided by the broadcasters. The list includes:
- CCTV in China
- TBS in Japan
- Sony LIV (Sony Sports Network) in India
- MediaCorp Channel 5 and mewatch.sg in Singapore
- MNCTV, RCTI, iNews TV, and Vision+ in Indonesia
- KBS, MBC, SBS, and TV Chosun in the Republic of Korea
- OneSports in Philippines
- RTM and Astro in Malaysia