Defending champion Japan will play their first group game of the Premier 12 baseball championship against Australia after the draw for the November tournament was made Thursday.
World No. 1 Japan takes on 11th-ranked Australia in the Group B opener on Nov. 13 at Vantelin Dome Nagoya. The rest of the games in the group will be played in Taiwan, where the host, South Korea, Cuba and the Dominican Republic comprise the six-team opening round.
No. 2-ranked Mexico hosts Group A starting on Nov. 10 and will be pitted against the third-ranked United States, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Panama and Puerto Rico.
The top two teams from each group advance to the Nov. 21-23 second round played at Tokyo Dome before the third-place game and the final take place on the 24th at the same venue.
Japan won the most recent tournament in 2019 under manager Atsunori Inaba.
