All 16 games at the tournament in Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach in Florida will be covered under the arrangement.

Eight teams are due to battle it out between May 31 and June 5 for one available place in Tokyo, where baseball is due to return to the Olympic programme for the first time since Beijing 2008.

"The WBSC is thrilled to partner with the leading sports streaming service, ESPN+, to showcase international baseball at its best and bring it to millions of sports fans across the US," said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari. 

"This partnership with ESPN is a natural fit and will best deliver the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to English and Spanish speaking audiences, who are some of our sport's most passionate fans."

Hosts the US will be joined by Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Puerto Rico in Group A of the tournament with Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela playing in Group B.

The top two sides in each group will progress to the super round, with the winner of this booking their Tokyo 2020 spot.

It will not be game over for the sides finishing in second and third as they will enter the WBSC's Final Qualifier which is due to be held in Taiwan from June 16 to 20.

Hosts Chinese Taipei, Australia and The Netherlands are already confirmed for the event while Japan, South Korea, Israel and Mexico have booked their Tokyo 2020 spots.

Only six teams will play at the Olympics - considered by some to be too small a number for a competitive tournament.

"We could not be happier to bring the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to fans on ESPN+," said Tim Bunnell, the senior vice-president for programming and acquisitions at ESPN. 

"With eight of the top teams in the world playing for a single spot in Tokyo this summer, we know the competition will be intense and entertaining for every baseball fan in the US."