RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Mexico players console Cuba's Leonardo Junco at the conclusion of Tuesday’s elimination game.

When it comes to the Little League World Series, it’s pretty common for one or two teams to stand out above the rest on one or both sides of the bracket.

Whether it be the stars aligning for a particular team or a historically consistent region adding to its success, you typically get a pretty good idea of who’s making it to the finals after the first few days of the event. On the international side last year, that was Chinese Taipei, with California and Texas drawing similar expectations on the US side.

This year, Chinese Taipei and Venezuela were the two favorites to make it there, based off regional success, opening Series performances and the eye test. But though that’s still possible at the time of writing this, especially considering Chinese Taipei just punched its ticket, that outlook became iffier as the week carried forward.

Japan proved capable of taking both teams down, sending Venezuela to face elimination and going toe-to-toe with Chinese Taipei despite its ace pitcher, Kanta Iwashita, not being available. Though Japan had to fight for its tournament life on Thursday, Chinese Taipei was wary of another battle with them.

“We believe they are very strong,” said Chinese Taipei manager Lee Cheng-Ta through an interpreter on Japan. “We may meet again, and I think they were able to win this type of game. We are just very happy that we came up with the W.”

Japan hasn’t been an anomaly either.

In their winners’ matchup Monday, Cuba held a one-run lead over Chinese Taipei heading into the fifth inning. And although things fell apart from there, it would prove that performance wasn’t a flash in the pan in its elimination game against Mexico on Tuesday.

Mexico had hoped to save its ace pitcher Antonio Guerrero for a potential matchup against Venezuela on Wednesday. But Cuba forced Mexico to use its trump card and still had it on its heels down the stretch. With a 4-1 lead heading into the sixth, it took a miraculous five-run inning for Mexico to send them home.

Similarly, Aruba had Venezuela — an aforementioned international favorite — on the brink of elimination, sporting just one victory and looking at back-to-back losses. Holding a 1-0 lead heading into the sixth, Aruba was three outs away from three straight series wins.

After its tight 2-0 loss to Mexico in its opener, Aruba had proven it was a team worth being wary of — an inning and another win away from a shot at the international final. Like Cuba, it just couldn’t finish things off, as Venezuela clutched things out by way of walk-off walk.

“Caribbean played a great game, but we fought it out and won the game,” said Venezuela manager Domingo Carrasquel through an interpreter after that win. “They showed they had the heart to win a game like this.”

That’s a lot of teams to keep track of, and that’s kind of the point of this column. This year’s international side had six teams that showcased the tools needed to make a run at the international final.

The balance and the competitiveness of this bracket produced a lot of surprises down the stretch and while we appear to be making our way to a predictable outcome, the trek there was bumpier than some probably expected.

More importantly, that balance made every game exciting. This bracket featured more tight games than blowouts, with the last few days producing classic after classic.

Heading into the international final on Saturday, it’s been a run to remember.

Henry Huber is a sports reporter at the Sun-Gazette. Email comments to hhuber@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @HenryHuber_.