WBSC Premier12 2024: Opening Titles released - Don't miss the dragons

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has marked 60 days to go until the start of the WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS by releasing the stunning opening titles for the tournament.

Created in collaboration with MUT. Studios, to mark the WBSC Premier12 2024 being held during the Year of the Dragon, the footage follows the journey of three dragons, who each represent one of the lands hosting the third edition of the WBSC’s flagship tournament.

Dragons are mythological creatures and symbols of power and protection that unite cultures from afar, and they guide us through the journey of the WBSC Premier12 2024, starting in Guadalajara and Tepic (MEX), who host the opening games on 9th November, before moving on to Nagoya (JPN) Taipei City (TPE) and then Tokyo (JPN), where the final will be held two weeks later.

The opening titles will feature at the start of the international broadcast for all 38 games of the event and WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari hailed the innovative video.

President Fraccari said: “The innovative and exciting opening titles will provide the perfect start to the international broadcast of each Premier12 game in November. The Premier12 is our flagship event and highlighting each of the three hosts is important as fans tune in for the games. MUT. Studios, in collaboration with our WBSC team, have produced a fantastic video and I look forward to seeing it throughout the tournament, which will help engage and inspire fans around the world.”

The first stop for the Opening Titles is at dawn in Mexico, where the dragon is prominent in Aztec and Mayan cultures through Quetzalcoatl and Kukulkan, flying feathered serpents.

The red dragon flies past Group A venues, the Charros Stadium in Guadalajara and El Coloso del Pacifico in Tepic and throughout the flight we see further references to Mexican culture before ending the journey at the pyramid of Kukulkan.  

We continue our trip to Group B in the afternoon as we follow the blue dragon showing us the TPE101 building, a symbol of Taiwanese heritage, all while being inside the recently inaugurated Taipei Dome, one of the two venues in Taiwan together with the Tianmu Stadium. Finally, we depart by flying over Taipei City, a bustling and cultural hub of Asia. 

As we arrive during the evening in Japan, the white dragon greets us at the Daitoku-in Mausoleum Somon Gate, the only standing structure from the Edo period, surrounded by the Sakura, Tokyo’s signature cherry blossoms which adorn the city every year.

All three dragons then join forces to finally carry us to the Tokyo Dome, one of the most iconic venues in global baseball, where the WBSC Premier12 2024 Super Round and Finals will be held. 

To finish, the dragons together guard the Premier12 trophy, before flying out to the night sky to form the Premier12 logo.

The WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS takes place from 9-24 November and will be broadcast globally to millions of baseball fans. Further information on the broadcast rights holders in each country will be available closer to the tournament. 

The 12 top baseball programmes, as determined by the WBSC/Konami Men's Baseball World Ranking at the end of 2023, will participate in the WBSC flagship event and compete split into two groups.

World No. 2 Mexico will host Group A in Guadalajara and Tepic, where they will face No. 3 USA, No. 6 Venezuela, No. 7 Netherlands, No. 10 Panama and No. 12 Puerto Rico.

Group A will open with three games on Saturday, 9 November, and on 10 and 14 November. Two games are scheduled for 11, 12, and 13 November.

World No. 1 Japan and No. 5 Chinese Taipei will host Group B in three different venues: the Vantelin Dome Nagoya, Tianmu Stadium and the Taipei Dome in Taipei. They will face No. 4 Korea, No. 8 Cuba, No. 9 Dominican Republic and No. 11 Australia.

Japan will host Australia for the inaugural game at the Vantelin Dome Nagoya on Wednesday, 13 November, at 19:00 local time, 18:00 in Taiwan. Two games are scheduled at 18:30 (Taiwan time): Dominican Republic vs. Cuba (Tianmu Stadium) and Korea vs. Chinese Taipei (Taipei Dome).

Two games per day are scheduled for 14, 15 and 17 November, and three games will be played on 16 and 18 November.

The full opening round schedule of the Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS consists of 30 games - 15 games per group. After round-robin play, the top two finishers of each group will compete in the Super Round. The first and second-place teams of the Super Round will compete in the Premier12 Championship game, while the third and fourth-place finishers will play for the bronze medal.

The Tokyo Dome in Japan will host the Super Round (21-23 November) and the medal games on 24 November.