Following the conclusion of the World Baseball Classic Qualifiers in Jupiter, Florida and Regensburg, Germany, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) has released a new update for their Men’s Baseball World Ranking. Thanks to their first-place finish at Roger Dean Stadium, Spain is the biggest European winner. They moved into 16th place as third-best European team behind the Netherlands (6th) and Italy (11th).
Germany remains in 17th place, but improved to 96.83 points with their finals appearance at the Armin-Wolf-Arena. Italy moved into 11th place with their second straight European Championship title, while Great Britain got into 19th, Czech Republic into 21st, Israel into 25th and France into 30th. The Dutch team dropped to sixth, as Canada had the best year so far with a second-place finish at the IBAF 18U Baseball World Championship and the win at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier.
European Teams in IBAF Men’s Baseball World Ranking:
Rank 2011 Member Federation Total Pts 6 5 Netherlands 476.76 11 13 Italy 214.80 16 18 Spain 109.51 17 17 Germany 96.83 19 23 Great Britain 64.69 21 20 Czech Republic 48.16 25 48 Israel 42.97 29 25 Croatia 27.57 30 41 France 27.50 32 31 Sweden 25.70 36 29 Greece 16.38 37 32 Belgium 15.38 44 37 Russia 8.75 47 44 Ukraine 6.44 48 46 Lithuania 3.88 53 49 Switzerland 3.36 54 50 Bulgaria 3.17 55 45 Austria 2.78 56 51 Poland 2.58 57 53 Slovakia 2.20 58 54 Slovenia 2.00 62 59 Ireland 1.81 63 52 Romania 1.42 64 61 Hungary 1.22 66 68 Georgia 1.03 70 60 Belarus 0.83 71 65 Finland 0.64 73 73 Latvia 0.45 74 72 Serbia 0.25
Check out www.ibaf.org for the full rankings and the formula.
Photo by Gregor Eisenhuth