Babe Ruth World Series returns, schedule released for 2024 tournament

For the second consecutive year, Cape Girardeau plays host to the 18-and-under Babe Ruth World Series at Capaha Field, and it brights plenty of foreign and domestic flavor with it.

For starters, like last year, the Aycorp Fighting Squirrels of nearby Charleston, Missouri, will host the event and get an automatic qualifying bid, while the Southeast Tropics got a bid with the top remaining finish in Missouri for a shot at defending their national championship.

Winning the 2023 World Series over the Alabama Rawdogs, the Tropics return looking to make it a title defense in their final year as a program with a 26-6-1 record this year and an automatic bid into the national stage.

Meanwhile, for the hosting Squirrels, they come in as the top team in the state after defeating the Tropics in the recent state tournament, essentially qualifying twice for the World Series.

After bowing out early in a 0-for-4 performance as the hosting team in last year’s tournament, the Squirrels look to return to winning ways, searching for their second national championship in program history.

The Squirrels will share a pool with the Australia "Aussie" Drop Bears of Sydney, Australia, along with Manassas out of Virginia, Altoona out of Pennsylvania and the Netherlands 18u team.

The Tropics share a six-team pool with Puerto Rico 18u, Mountain View out of California, Stamford out of Connecticut, Mid-County out of Nederland, Texas, and the Aruban 18u team.

The finish division, Pool C, has last year’s runner-up Rawdogs of Alabama along with Canada’s 18u squad, Kelso out of Washington, Salina out of Kansas, Lexington out of Kentucky and the Mexico 18u team.

In total, six nations enter while 10 U.S. states will be represented at this year’s World Series, spanning from the Pacific Northwest to New England, down into Alabama and all the way out to the hills in the Bay Area.

A healthy heap of talent enters Cape Girardeau, with the local squads hoping to fend off some seriously tough competition in this year’s edition of the Summer Classic.

With pool play officially kicking off on Friday morning, with a double-slate of games at both Capaha Park and Cape Central, it’ll be a busy seven days for these 17 teams entering the City of Roses.

Here’s the schedule for a loaded week in Cape Girardeau.