Little League World Series 2012: Previewing Day 4 Action

Day 4 of the 2012 Little League World Series is going to feature winner's-bracket play, so none of these teams will be in jeopardy of being bounced from the tournament. But this game is still vital for their championship hopes. 

It is a far easier road to the championship game in the winner's bracket. So don't expect any of these teams to leave anything in the bag for a future date. 

Check out the day's schedule and some of the more exciting aspects for the day below. 

Little League World Series Schedule for Sunday, August 19 

Game 13: Canada vs. Latin America at 12:00 p.m. ET

Game 14: Southeast (Goodlettsville, Tennessee) vs. West (Petaluma, California) at 2:00 p.m. ET

Game 15: Southwest (San Antonio, Texas) vs. Great Lakes (New Castle, Indiana) at 5:00 p.m. ET

Game 16: Asia Pacific (Chinese Taipei) vs. Japan (Tokyo) at 7:00 p.m. ET

What to Watch For 

Asia Pacific vs. Japan

This game very well could determine the international representative for the World Series. Both of these teams are loaded. 

Chinese Taipei (Asia Pacific) has a powerful offense, and it destroyed the European representative KMC American (Germany) in the opener 14-1. Meanwhile, Japan's offense is solid, and its pitching is fantastic. The team easily handled Curacao 7-0 in the opener, and its pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts in the six inning game. 

As they say, good pitching beats good hitting. This will be a great test of that. 

Is Canada for Real? 

When someone, Thomas Neil in this case, makes a catch like this and the strength of team is the offense, chances are solid that offense is spectacular.  

               

Canada won its opener 13-9 against a solid Mexico team.

That was one wild game too.

Canada led 7-0 after the first half of the first inning, but Mexico battled back to tie the game. Undeterred, Canada closed the game out strong. 

Canada is now in the winner's bracket with a tough game against Latin America. But the way the team looked in the opener, it can't be counted out against anyone. 

West vs. Midwest

This should be a great matchup, as the boys from Petaluma, California take on the team from Goodlettsville, Tennessee.

Petaluma squeaked out a thriller in the opener by beating New England 6-4, while Goodlettsville waltzed over the Midwest team 12-1. 

Just looking at the scores, I'd say that that boys from Goodlettsville have the advantage. But after looking a little deeper, I find that the Midwest team they clobbered lost 12-0 to the same New England team that Petaluma handled. 

Which is not really a surprise, is it? California is perpetually awesome at baseball. Still, this all sets up for a good game between those two.