Every player in the Little League World Series is 10, 11 or 12 years old.
Little League ignores a player's birthday during the season and looks at one date instead. How old is the player on Aug. 31? That number, what the organization calls "league age," decides who is eligible. If a player turns 13 on Aug. 30 then they are ineligible, but if the player turns 13 on Sept. 1, they are eligible.
The cutoff moved to Aug. 31 from April 30 for the 2018 season, which pushed 13-year-olds out of the tournament for good. They used to be eligible. In 2015, 67 of the 209 kids in Williamsport were teenagers. Little League said the point was to match school cutoffs so kids played alongside their classmates. The 2021 tournament, held without international teams, went further and took only 11- and 12-year-olds.
Eligibility has produced the worst scandals in the sport. A world championship has been taken away. A U.S. championship has been vacated. And a third-place finish was erased over one pitcher's birth certificate.
Players had to be league age 10, 11 or 12 as of Aug. 31, 2026.
#little #eligible #turns #tournament
Little League ignores a player's birthday during the season and looks at one date instead. How old is the player on Aug. 31? That number, what the organization calls "league age," decides who is eligible. If a player turns 13 on Aug. 30 then they are ineligible, but if the player turns 13 on Sept. 1, they are eligible.
The cutoff moved to Aug. 31 from April 30 for the 2018 season, which pushed 13-year-olds out of the tournament for good. They used to be eligible. In 2015, 67 of the 209 kids in Williamsport were teenagers. Little League said the point was to match school cutoffs so kids played alongside their classmates. The 2021 tournament, held without international teams, went further and took only 11- and 12-year-olds.
Eligibility has produced the worst scandals in the sport. A world championship has been taken away. A U.S. championship has been vacated. And a third-place finish was erased over one pitcher's birth certificate.
Players had to be league age 10, 11 or 12 as of Aug. 31, 2026.
#little #eligible #turns #tournament
22 days ago
