2022 Little League World Series preview: Who qualified from New York, how to watch, more

The 2022 Little League World Series is set to get underway on Wednesday. After COVID forced the tournament to be all United States teams for the first time since 1975, the tournament will return to its global format this year. 

Little League World Series features a 20-team field of winners from regionals across the United States and eight different international sites. This year’s tournament also adds two teams from both of the United States and International groups — Metro and Mountain in the U.S., and Panama and Puerto Rico internationally — to expand the field to 20 teams. 

The inclusion of Panama and Puerto Rico begins a three-year rotation of expansion teams among Panama, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. This year, Panama and Puerto Rico will take the first rotation of automatic bids then it will be Panama and Cuba in 2023 and Cuba and Puerto Rico in 2024. 

How to Watch:

The Little League World Series is shown exclusively on ESPN/ABC and will run from Wednesday, August 17th til August 28th.

Wednesday’s Schedule

• Game 1: 1 p.m. Latin America vs. Caribbean on ESPN
  Game 2: 3 p.m. Southeast vs. New England on ESPN
  Game 3: 5 p.m. Australia vs. Canada on ESPN
  Game 4: 7 p.m. West vs. Northwest on ESPN

The complete schedule for the rest of the pool play games can be found here. 

Bracket Championships:

August 27th 

• 12:30 p.m. – International final on ABC
• 3:30 p.m. – U.S. final on ABC

Championship Game

August 28

• 10 a.m. Third-place game on ESPN
• 3:30 p.m. Championship on ABC

What to Know:

The Little League World Series is a double-elimination tournament. The United States and International teams compete in separate double-elimination tournaments leading up to both a U.S. Final and an International Final. The winners of each respective final face off in the Championship game, while the losers of each final will play in a third-place game. 

Who’s Playing?

The Metro Region (including Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island) is brand new this year, and Massapequa Coast Little League from Massapequa, NY was the inaugural winner, advancing to this year’s Little League World Series after throwing a no-hitter in the Regional Final. 

Wow ! Joey Lionetti fires a no-hitter and for the first time in their 72-year history Massapequa Coast is headed to the Little League World Series ! pic.twitter.com/NROC1fF8i6

— Axcess Baseball LI (@axcessbaseball) August 13, 2022

Notably, Honolulu, the 2018 champion and third-place team last year, is back again as the West Region champion. 

This year, the eligible age range for participants is 10 to 12. The prior two tournaments accepted only 11- and 12-year-olds. This year, the Little League World Series also returns to Williamsport, Pa., which has hosted the event since its inception in 1947.

The complete bracket can be accessed and downloaded here. 

United States Teams

International Teams

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