ARAMCO is a Saudi entity, so I think it’s worth noting that its Little League baseball team is once again in the sport’s World Series, to be played in Williamsport, PA. The team won its regional division—Middle East/Africa—in a series played in Kutno, Poland late in July. Dhahran played against teams from Uganda, Kuwait, and the UAE, winning all games convincingly.

The team’s first game in the Little League World Series will be played on Saturday, August 16 against Japan, at 6:00pm Eastern Time and will be televised on ESPN2. They play against Latin American on Sunday, August 17, again at 6:00 ET and again televised on ESPN2. On Tuesday, August 19, the team goes against Canada, at 4:00 ET, with the game shown on ESPN.

How the team fares during these playoffs will determine whether it advances to the Semi-Finals and Championship game. The Little League website has game/broadcast schedules you can check as the playoffs continue.

Congratulations to the team on making it this far. Unlike the professional baseball World Series, this truly is an international competition, putting teams from around the world against each other. While baseball may not have quite the fan base as football/soccer, it is massively popular. Perhaps in future years we’ll see more Saudis actually playing the game.

The Dhahran team has a weblog, Aallallstar’s (Arabian-American All Stars), with masses of photos of the team as it makes its way to the finals. [Thanks to Molouk Ba-Isa at Arab News for the link!]