Little League World Series 2017: Thursday Schedule, TV Info and Predictions

The time is now for the Little League World Series, as play is set to begin Thursday under the bright lights of Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Sixteen teams—eight from the United States, eight international teams—will compete for bragging rights as the best little league team in the world.

Representing America will be Grosse Pointe, Michigan, from the Great Lakes region; Jackson, New Jersey, of the Mid-Atlantic; Sioux Falls, South Dakota, of the Midwest; Fairfield, Connecticut, representing New England; Walla Walla, Washington, as the Far West competitor; Greenville, North Carolina, of the Southeast; Lufkin, Texas, representing the Southwest; and Rancho Santa Margarita, California, representing the west.

As for the eight international teams, they are as follows: Seoul, South Korea (Asia-Pacific); Sydney (Australia); White Rock, British Columbia (Canada); Santiago, Dominican Republic (Caribbean); Emilia, Italy (Europe-Africa); Tokyo (Japan); Maracaibo, Venezuela (Latin America); and Reynosa, Mexico (Mexico).

Here's Thursday's schedule of games, including two international matchups:

Latin America vs. Mexico: 1 p.m. ET

Jackson vs.  Fairfield: 3 p.m. ET

Canada vs. Europe-Africa: 5 p.m. ET

Lufkin vs. Grosse Pointe: 7 p.m. ET

The first three games will be televised by ESPN. Lufkin vs. Grosse Pointe will be broadcast on ESPN2.

All four games will be live-streamed at WatchESPN.

Predictions

In this afternoon's first fixture, look for Mexico to take care of business against Latin America, despite a competitive start from the Maracaibo players. Mexico has too much fire power coming from it's starting lineup, and the same can be said regarding the Jackson vs. Fairfield game.

Jackson has the bats to blow past any team in the Little League World Series, but they may find it difficult against an aggressive pitching staff from Fairfield, who have a 16-0 record over this past summer. Watch out for Fairfield as they shut down Jackson's offense.

As for America's neighbors up north, Canada will have an intriguing matchup against representatives of Emilia, as the Italians will look for the upset against the Canadians after allowing just nine runs in their past five games while scoring 47 runs during that span. The Italians will blow past the Canadiens in a shootout.

When it comes to Lufkin, it's all about consistency.

When they want to turn on the offense, they're hard to stop—they've scored 10 runs over their past two games while allowing just three runs. Having said that, they did allow 10 runs in an 11-10 victory over Texas West last month, which could allow Grosse-Pointe the opportunity to seize momentum early and often. They have scored at least six runs in their past three outings, allowing just six runs during that span.

It's time for Lufkin to become contenders and string together a few solid performances. That will start tonight against Grosse-Pointe, who will struggle to keep up on the scoreboard.