New WBSC Baseball World Rankings: Japan remains No. 1, Chinese Taipei rises to No. 2

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New WBSC Baseball World Rankings: Japan remains No. 1, Chinese Taipei rises to No. 2

January 21, 2022

PULLY, Switzerland -- New WBSC Baseball World Rankings: Japan remains No. 1, Chinese Taipei rises to No. 2

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 21 January 2022

New WBSC Baseball World Rankings: Japan remains No. 1, Chinese Taipei rises to No. 2

PULLY, Switzerland -- The 2021 end-of-the-year World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Baseball World Rankings were published today. The WBSC Baseball World Rankings measure National Team performance — from U-12 to top level — in WBSC-sanctioned international competitions over a four-year period. The end-of-the-year rankings reflect the expiration of all points given in 2017.

The latest WBSC Men's Baseball World Ranking includes a total of 85 national team programmes.

Key movements include:

Olympic champions Japan remains the top-ranked national baseball programme with 3,752 points.

Chinese Taipei (2,966) took over second place from now No. 3 Korea (2,881).

Mexico (2,722) surpassed the United States (2,445) to move into fourth place, its highest ever position in the WBSC Baseball World Rankings.

WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2021 winners Venezuela gained four positions and is now sixth with 2,255 points, ahead of the Dominican Republic (2,235) and the Netherlands (2,058).

Cuba (1,692) gained two positions and is now ninth.

Australia (1,610), Oceania's top ranked nation, lost three positions but remains in the top 10.

Another relevant change comes from Colombia (1,346), who finished third at the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup 2021 to jump two positions to 11th.

The Czech Republic (1,091) also gained two positions to reach its best-ever position, at 14th in the world.

Israel (659) gained four positions and is now ranked 20th.

Outside the top 20, Great Britain improved nine spots and is now 23rd. Croatia gained 11 positions and is now the 32nd. The biggest improvement came from world No. 40 Sweden, who climbed 33 spots.

SEE THE WBSC BASEBALL WORLD RANKINGS METHODOLOGY

There were no changes in the Women's Baseball World Rankings. Women's National Baseball Teams are set to return to action during the 2022 season with the World Cup's Continental Qualifiers.

Contact: media@wbsc.org

About the World Baseball Softball Confederation

Headquartered in Pully, Switzerland -- adjacent to Lausanne, the Olympic Capital -- the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. The WBSC has 210 National Federation and Associate Members in 138 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually.

The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Premier12, the World Baseball Classic and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women's), Softball World Cups, (U-12 Mixed, U-15 Women's, U-18 Women's, U-18 Men's, U-23 Men's, Women's and Men's), and official disciplines Baseball5 (Senior and Youth World Cups) and E-Sports as well as Baseball, Softball and Baseball5 events at the Olympic Games.

For more information, visit www.wbsc.org, which is available in six languages: English, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.

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