Bangladesh jumped 13 spots to 61 in the latest WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings released Tuesday by World Baseball Softball Confederation following the recent conclusion of the 20-nation World Baseball Classic 2023 - the top-tier WBSC World Championship hosted by Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.
The World Baseball Classic guaranteed 1,150 points to the winners, 953 to the runner-up, 905 to the third and fourth-place finishers and a minimum of 242 points for participation.
Japan strengthened its position at No. 1 in the World Rankings, climbing to 5,323 points, while the United States (4,402) moved up one place to second position and Mexico (4,130) up two places to third.
Bangladesh are the biggest mover in this ranking after Costa Rica, who also shared 61st place after jumping 15 spots.
The progress is a reflection of Bangladesh baseball team's major achievement early last month when they clinched fourth spot in the 15th West Asia Baseball Cup 2023 after losing narrowly against a strong Sri Lanka in the third-place deciding match in Islamabad.
The WBSC ranked a total of 84 men's baseball programs, which is an increase of three since the start of the year with Afghanistan, Laos, Palestine and Thailand joining, while American Samoa dropped out.
Costa Rica and Bangladesh, in 61st place, are the biggest movers, up 15 and 13 places respectively.
The WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings includes all results from the past four years across WBSC sanctioned tournaments from U-12 Baseball World Cup to the Premier12 and World Baseball Classic as well as continental tournaments and friendlies with the top 12 nations qualifying for the next edition of the WBSC Premier12.
Chinese Taipei (4,061) and Korea (4,049) complete the top five, with Venezuela (3,534) stable at No. 6. Cuba (seventh with 3,151 points) and Australia (ninth, 2,600) improved their ranking by one position. The Netherlands (3,089) lost one position and is now No. 8 while the Dominican Republic (2,415) is 10th.
