Three of four finalists confirmed for WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series 2023 World Finals

Three our of the four finalists for the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series World Finals 2023 have been confirmed following the completion of the qualification phase last weekend.

The showpiece event - the USA eBASEBALL™ Finals, the first ever offline event of the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series, took place on 4 November in North Carolina, USA, with  yabeGaming winning the tournament in sensation circumstances. 

The event took place in the VIP lounge overlooking the beautiful Durham Bulls Athletic Park, decorated with the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series branding. Durham Bulls Athletic Park is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Triple-A affiliate, the Tampa Bay Rays and one of the most iconic minor league ballparks in the United States.

Four players from USA, compass, Emmdotfrisk, KangGang and yabeGaming, who previously competed in the USA eBASEBALL™ Cup, gathered to compete for one ticket to the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series World Finals 2023. 

After the two semi-finals, yabeGaming took down KangGang, 1-0 on extra-inning on a walk-off single to win the inaugural USA eBASEBALL™ Finals and be crowned finalist for the World Finals. 

yabeGaming was emotional about his unexpected victory over KangGang, a powerhouse in the WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS world who finished fourth at the inaugural Olympic Esports Week 2023 in Singapore.

“KangGang is a great player, great in every aspect of POWER PROS, and yet I think all the finalists are far more than that,” yabeGaming said.

Event 8, the final qualifier on 5 November, was between antimon, the winner of the Finland Baseball Softball Cup, and fujito, the winner of the FIBS Cup. Both had qualified for the Olympic Esports Week 2023, finishing seventh and fifth respectively. fujito crushed a three-run home run in the first innings and held the lead until the end of the game. 

"First of all, I am very happy to have qualified for the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series World Finals. As well as the match against the opponent, anchimon, I played a lot of matches for a month. I think I was able to achieve this result by assessing my condition and tactics for each player and never giving up until the very end," fujito said.

yabeGaming and fujito are now on their way to the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series World Finals 2023, along with SHORA who is the Olympic Esports Series 2023 and Olympic Virtual Series 2019 champion and the winner of the first online qualifier of the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series. 

The fourth and final spot at the WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series World Finals 2023 will be given to a wild card participant.

The WBSC eBASEBALL™ Series, which was launched at the renowned Tokyo Game Show in September, is open to anyone to participate online on the highly successful WBSC eBASEBALL™: POWER PROS with the 2023 edition culminating with World Finals.

As announced at the Tokyo Game Show earlier this year in September, the 2024 edition will conclude with the ePremier12™ - a live event due to take place during the WBSC’s flagship tournament the Premier12™ in Tokyo, Japan.