LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today unveiled the final 2017 standings in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings Presented by ENEOS, which weigh a country's National Team performance (from U-12 to Professional) in WBSC-sanctioned international competitions over a four-year period (2014-2017).
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Marking a truly global competitive balance, baseball/softball is the only sport with nations from the Americas (North-, South- and the Caribbean), Asia, Europe and Oceania in the Top 10 of the respective world rankings.
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Japan remains the top-ranked nation for a third straight year, a position held since November 2014.
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USA Baseball squads, however, were the most successful in 2017, sweeping the world championships -- the U-12 Baseball World Cup, U-18 Baseball World Cup and World Baseball Classic -- to earn a record high 2,127 annual ranking points.
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Mexico and Australia both hit historical highs in 2017, climbing to No. 6 and No. 7 in the world, respectively.
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Israel made the biggest jump in 2017, advancing from No. 41 to No. 19 while defeating four Top 10 nations -- Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Korea and Netherlands -- in their World Baseball Classic debut.
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Most rankings points earned in 2017
- United States of America - 2127 pts.
- Japan - 1604 pts.
- Republic of Korea - 1178 pts.
- Netherlands - 1133 pts.
- Australia - 1015 pts.
- Cuba and Puerto Rico - 1008 pts.
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Biggest Gainers in 2017
- Israel +22
- El Salvador +18
- Honduras +11
- Guam +9
- Australia and Greece +4
New Countries Entering the World Rankings in 2017
- No. 53 El Salvador
- No. 62 Guam
- No. 68 Costa Rica
- No. 72 Aruba
- No. 73 American Samoa
- No. 73 Nepal
- No. 75 U.S. Virgin Islands
Countries Falling out of the World Rankings in 2017
- Afghanistan
- Fiji
- Malaysia
- Myanmar
- New Caledonia                     Â
- Palau
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The official 2018 international baseball calendar features two world championships that will have the biggest impact on this year's men's baseball world rankings: the U-15 Baseball World Cup (10-19 Aug.) in Panama City, Panama, and the U-23 Baseball World Cup (19-28 Oct.) in Managua, Nicaragua.
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The Top 12 nations in the 2018 end-of-the-year WBSC Baseball World Rankings will qualify for the WBSC Premier12 2019, the men's professional baseball National Team global championship and Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 qualifier.
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The WBSC Baseball World Rankings will next be calculated in the coming weeks, as points earned in 2014 are set to expire.
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The web-based version and methodology of the WBSC World Rankings Presented by ENEOS can be found atÂ
www.wbsc.org/rankings.
