New world rankings

Straight from the International Federation of Baseball are the latest world rankings, updated to include the results of the World Baseball Classic:




1. Cuba
2. Korea
3. Japan
4. USA
5. Chinese Taipei
6. Netherlands
7. Mexico
8. Canada
9. Australia
10. Puerto Rico

Cuba, while not making the semi-finals, retains it's #1 ranking. The United States, while making the semi-finals, drops to 4th. Taiwan, which went 0 - for the Classic, and lost to China, stays in 5th. The Netherlands, which advanced to the second round, and beat the Dominicans twice, stay in 6th, behind Chinese Taipei. Mexico and Canada flip-flop 7th and 8th. Australia, who got screwed in their pool, actually moves up to 9th. And Panama, rightly so, drops out of the top 10, to be replaced by Puerto Rico.

As a reminder, there is a point system for this:

The IBAF debuted its World Rankings earlier this year in January. Developed in conjunction with Scott Goode, a sports information director from Harding University (Arkansas, USA), the rankings are based on a point total which IBAF member federations (teams) earn from IBAF-sanctioned events in a four-year window, or a period of time that encompasses two IBAF Baseball World Cups.

Teams earn points based on their finish in an event. A tournament winner takes home 50 points, second place, 40; third place, 30; and fourth place, 15. From there, points are divided evenly among the remaining teams in the event to ensure balance between tournaments that feature different-sized fields.

Once points are rewarded based on a team’s finish, that amount is then multiplied by a number based on the strength of the event. Major world championships, such as an Olympic Games, IBAF Baseball World Cup or World Baseball Classic, all receive 4X multipliers. Minor world championship events (Junior, Youth or FISU University Worlds, or the Honkbol Tournament, for example) have a 1X multiplier, and all other continental championships receive multipliers from 1X-.25X based on how many teams in the top-10 of the current IBAF World Rankings compete in the event.

So a team particular finish might not necessarily move them up or down, depending on how many total points they had accumulated prior to the Classic.
I've only really started following international baseball since I've started this blog, but I really have to wonder: what the hell are the Taiwanese doing to get into 5th place?