Juwnes Pride 2019 won the Major League Baseball (MLB) 'Dream Cup', which took place across Japan from May to October before concluding with the National Championships at Okinawa Cellular Stadium Naha on 28 November last year.
The MLB Dream Cup is Japan's largest amateur baseball tournament offering participants - usually numbering around 15,000 each year - a flavour of what it is like to play in the big leagues. MLB partnered with the Japan Rubber Baseball Association to organize the 2021 edition, played under Covid safety protocols, that involved 9,329 players of all ages.
A total of 430 teams from across the Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Hokushinets, Tokai and Kansai Regiones participated in the 2021 edition, which saw the regional phase take place from May to September 2021 before the East and West Japan finals in early November qualified the top four teams for the tournament's championship round.
The participants also had a chance to interact with professional ball players throughout the tournament.
Cincinnati Reds outfielder and former Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) All-Star Shogo Akiyama was a commentator for the National Championships while former NPB and MLB All-Star pitcher Hideki Okajima, a 2007 World Series winner with the Boston Red Sox, managed the Okajima Red Sox.
Former MLB, NPB and CPBL pitcher Mac Suzuki appeared at a Fan Fest in Miyagi while former MLB and NPB All-Star Takashi Saito, a two-time Japan Series winner with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars in 1998 and the Rakuten Golden Eagles in 2013, spoke on the broadcast and presented to the winners at the closing ceremony. Saito is currently serving as a coach with the BayStars.
