WBSC Premier12 2024 preview: Schedule and how to watch live

Think the baseball season is over? Think again, for the blue-riband men's baseball event on the World Baseball Softball Confederation calendar – the Premier12 – is back for its third edition featuring the top 12 teams on the WBSC's end-of-2023 world rankings.

Split into two groups of six, they will play a total of 38 games from 9–24 November in the host federations of Chinese Taipei, Japan, and Mexico.

While no player on a Major League Baseball (MLB) 40-man roster will be taking part in the competition, the Premier12 has in its first two editions unearthed future MLB stars, including Shohei Ohtani, who competed in 2015, and Suzuki Seiya and Brent Rooker last time out in 2019.

Japan are the defending champions, while Republic of Korea won the inaugural title in 2015. The Premier12, which serves as the WBSC's flagship international competition, sits second to the World Baseball Classic in terms of active international tournaments, with the WBC being jointly sanctioned by the WBSC and MLB and serving as the national team 'world championship' of the sport.

This will be the final year with just 12 teams in the Premier12. The competition will expand to a eight-team qualification stage and 16-team finals in 2027.

Top players at 2024 WBSC Premier12

As is usual for all international tournaments except for the World Baseball Classic, active Major League Baseball players are not allowed to be selected by the competing teams.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a lot of MLB experience across the various rosters – plus the next generation of future stars out of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball, Republic of Korea's KBO League, and the United States' AAA and AA minor leagues too.

Japan figure to have the strongest squad and have included Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and 2023 World Baseball Classic champion Genda Sosuke, his fellow Olympic gold medallist Kurihara Ryoya, and fellow WBC winners Ota Taisei, Ito Hiromi, Takahashi Hiroto, Togo Shosei, Maki Shugo, and Okamoto Kazuma.

Meanwhile, some teams including Rep. of Korea, Dominican Republic, and Cuba will only announce their final selections closer to the start of tournament play.

And this year's 2024 MLB Draft first overall pick, Travis Bazzana, has made the Australia roster.

Here are some of the other players with MLB experience who will take part in the Premier12:

Schedule of the 2024 WBSC Premier12 - all games

Start times listed primarily by UTC/GMT followed by local time. Schedules and order of games subject to change.

How to watch 2024 WBSC Premier12 live

Premier12 games will be shown exclusively on the DAZN platform in the United States.

Outside the U.S., games will be available to watch on DAZN in selected global markets. Games can also be streamed online on the GameTime.sport platform with a subscription to the Premier12 bundle.

Please check local listings elsewhere.