Little League World Series 2023: Wednesday Schedule, TV Info and Bracket Predictions

The 2023 Little League World Series kicks off Wednesday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania with a slate of games featuring some of the best and brightest teams in this year's field, headlined by the first appearance in the tournament for home-state team Media Little League.

The stadium will be rocking for that squad's first-round game against the Southwest region's representative out of Needville, Texas.

Elsewhere, early international bracket favorites Japan will see their first action of the tournament while teams from Rhode Island and Tennessee make up the other United States bracket match-up.

Find out where to watch Wednesday's action, who you might expect to win and two storylines to follow with this preview of the day's games.

Wednesday Schedule, TV Info and Predictions

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

The Japan Region champion Little League team from Tokyo, Japan, rides in the Little League Grand Slam Parade in downtown Williamsport, Pa., Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. The Little League World Series baseball tournament, featuring 20 teams from around the world, starts later in the week in South Williamsport, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

All times Eastern Standard Time

August 16

Europe-Africa (Brno, Czech Republic) vs. Panama (Santiago de Veraguas, Panama) (1:00 p.m., ESPN, prediction: Panama)

Mountain (Henderson, Tennessee) vs. Metro (Smithfield, Rhode Island) (3:00 p.m., ESPN, prediction: Metro)

Japan (Tokyo, Japan) vs. Cuba (Bayamo, Cuba) (5:00 p.m., ESPN, prediction: Japan)

Southwest (Needville, Texas) vs. Mid-Atlantic (Media, Pennsylvania) (7:00 p.m., ESPN, prediction: Mid-Atlantic)

Hometown Heroes Look for First Round Win

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

The Mid-Atlantic Region champion Little League team from Media, Pa., rides in the Little League Grand Slam Parade in downtown Williamsport, Pa., Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. The Little League World Series baseball tournament, featuring 20 teams from around the world, starts later in the week in South Williamsport, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Lamade Stadium will be rocking Wednesday when Media Little League makes its first appearance in Williamsport, a tough match-up against a Needville Little League out of east Texas.

There will be considerable fan fervor for the home-state heroes as they look to make a deep run into this year's 76th Little League World Series. It will hope for some of the same heroics that sent the team to Williamsport as it looks to make a statement with a win in the opening round.

In the regional finals, Media's Trevor Skowronek scored a walk-off home run against the Northwest Washington, DC team to win 2-0 and secure its place in the field.

It will need big hits like that and the same type of lockdown pitching it got from Austin Crowley in that game (five scoreless innings, 13 Ks) to help it advance out of a United States bracket that contains some offensive juggernauts, including squads from New Albany, Ohio and Fargo, North Dakota.

It will be interesting to see how the team performs against stiffer competition.

The win over Washington was certainly dramatic but there were not a ton of nailbiters for Media on its way to the tournament. In regional action, it outscored opponents 24-5 in games that were never particularly close.

It showed the guts, grit and determination needed to win in the regional final when need be, all traits that will help them as they seek a win in the United States bracket, but can they consistently win that way in a tournament that will demand it?

That remains to be seen but one thing is for certain: the squad will be the most popular on the diamond in Williamsport as friends, family, and fellow Pennsylvanians root, root, root for the home team.

Cuba's First Dance in Williamsport

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

The Cuba Region champion Little League team from Bayamo, Cuba, rides in the Little League Grand Slam Parade in downtown Williamsport, Pa., Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. The Little League World Series baseball tournament, featuring 20 teams from around the world, starts later in week in South Williamsport, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Little League World Series has been around for over three-quarters of a century, yet 2023 is the first time that a team from Cuba will be represented in the tournament.

Bayamo Little League will take to the diamond Wednesday against Musashi Fuchu Little League out of Tokyo, Japan.

It will not be easy to kick off its run with a win, especially considering the Japanese representative's explosive offense, which was responsible for 36 runs in the regional competition. Still, the enormity of the moment and what it means for little league baseball in Cuba cannot be understated.

"I told my wife once, 'I want to be alive to see my son play on a Cuban national team,'" Luis Gurriel Sr. says in an upcoming documentary called "Little League Dreams" (h/t USA Today).

If Luis Sr.'s last name sounds familiar to baseball fans, it is because his cousins are current Major League Baseball stars Yuli Gurriel of the Miami Marlins and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Yuli understands the significance of Cuba's representation in the annual event.

"It's something big because it's the first time a team from Cuba is participating in the Little League World Series. … It's a big step forward. In the past, nobody would have thought this would happen and thank God it did and with the presence of my cousin, it's something very beautiful."

Luis Sr. will watch with immense pride in his son and country Wednesday as Cuba takes its first steps toward establishing itself on the international stage.

If it can produce runs at the same clip it did in its regional tournament, when it tallied a staggering 71, those steps will quickly be loud, deafening stomps.