After over a week of tournament play, the original field of sixteen teams in the 2015 Little League World Series has been narrowed to four teams, two from the American bracket and two from the International bracket. 

Meeting at 12:30 PM for the International Championship will be Mexico (4-1) and Japan (3-0) in a very interesting matchup. 

Japan defeated Mexico in a winner's bracket game earlier in the tournament, defeating them 3-1. Since then, the Mexico offense has exploded with three wins, all by at least 10 runs. They defeated Australia 14-3, took down Taiwan 11-1, and, in probably their most surprising win, romped over the top pitching team in the tournament in Venezuela 11-0 to advance to the championship. 

Meanwhile, Japan has been victors in three very close games. Sandwiched around their victory against Mexico were a pair of tight victories. They defeated Taiwan in their opening game, 7-5, and, in a game between a pair of 2-0 teams, Japan pulled off two dramatic comebacks and squeaked past Venezuela 5-4 in eight innings. 

Mexico's pitching has been excellent all tournament. Their 1.56 team ERA is the best in the tournament and is much better than Japan's respectable 3.00 mark. 

Though starting pitchers have not been announced for the game yet, a good guess for Japan's hurler will be Nobuyuki Kawashima, who has made one Series appearance. The appearance was a superb start against Mexico when Kawashima shut out Mexico over four innings. He has had plenty of rest and it certainly could be him on the hill tomorrow. 

For Mexico, Jose Reyes could be starting. He started against Japan and pitched well, hurling 4.2 innings of three-run ball. Ace Daniel Zaragoza is not available after hurling 5.2 innings of scoreless ball against Venezuela, earning the victory. Hector Sanchez is a less likely possibility. Sanchez started against Australia and did not do very well, giving up six runs. Thankfully, Mexico scored nine times in the first inning to back him up very well. Their other available option is Armando Verdugo who pitched five innings of one run ball to claim the victory against Taiwan. So Reyes or Verdugo will most likely start on the bump for the Mexicans as they try to claim the International Championship. 

On the offensive side of things, Mexico has been excellent in the past few games after a slow start. They scored just two runs in their first two games but have scored 36 times in their past three contests. They have averaged 7.6 runs per game, compared to Japan's 5.0 runs per game. Raul Leon leads Mexico offensively. Leon has been a beast in the World Series, blasting two home runs with nine RBI. He is hitting .533 in the tournament. 

For Japan, Yugo Aoki is one of their best offensive threats, hitting .545 in the tournament. 

Mexico looks like the more complete team in this contest, but they have a history of struggling in the International Championship. They lost to Japan in the championship in 2011 and 2013 and also lost to Taiwan in 2009. They did win the International Championship in 2008, the only time they've done so since 2001, when Mexico became its own team in the Little League World Series. 

On Saturday, Mexico looks to break the curse while Japan, who has advanced to the International Championship the past six years, looks to continue their Little League World Series dominance.