USA Baseball named four-time Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series winner Joe Girardi as manager of the U.S. National Team for November’s WBSC Premier12, the main international baseball event of the year and 2020 Olympic qualifier.

Castro will look to improve upon Mexico’s fourth-place finish in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 and secure a place in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games by finishing as the top team from the Americas. In the 2015 Premier12, second-place USA was the top finisher out of the Americas.

The Israeli Baseball National team defeated Lithuania in a three-game series and qualified for the European Championship. The top five teams of the Euros will advance to the Europe-Africa Olympic Qualifier

Today marks 100 days to the biggest international baseball event on this year’s calendar, the II WBSC Premier12, which will be a global battle between the Top 12 ranked Men’s National Teams in the world and also serve as an Olympic qualifier for the Tokyo 2020 Games.

The Lima 2019 Pan American Games opens in Peru on Friday, 26 July, and includes three baseball/softball events, which will be played under official WBSC regulations: men’s baseball, men’s softball and women’s softball.