With México’s incredible extra-innings defeat of No. 2 Japan in last night’s Under-23 World Cup Final, it claimed the country’s first WBSC World Championship at any level. Its previous top finish was a bronze. México lost to only No. 2 Japan and No. 3 South Korea en route to its victory and, as a result, claims all 690 rankings points from the tournament.
It is always impossible to accurately guess new world rankings, with some results dropping out and the maths always summing up differently, but here is a quick stab at the changes for the Top 26 teams in the world (USA to South Africa). Previous rankings are in parentheses, from which we are fairly certain Japan will be the new No. 1, with big leaps for Venezuela (No. 11 to 9), Colómbia (16th to 14th) and South Africa (26th to 23rd). Only the top 12 teams qualify for the Premier 12 and the teams selected are now set, having changed only in order, not in place.
- Japan 5796 (2)
- USA 5515 (1)
- South Korea 4987 (3)
- Taiwan 3569 (5)
- Cuba 3495 (4)
- México 3362 (6)
- Australia 2441 (8)
- Netherlands 2422 (7)
- Venezuela 2311 (11)
- Canada 2142 (9)
- Puerto Rico 2106 (10)
- Dominican Republic 1836 (12)
- Panamá 1475 (13)
- Colómbia 1333 (16)
- Nicaragua 1197 (14)
- Italy 1135 (15)
- Brazil 941 (17)
- Czech Republic 926 (18)
- Israel 817 (19)
- China 612 (20)
- Argentina 462 (21)
- Germany 454 (22)
- South Africa 414 (26)
- Pakistan 364 (23)
- France 335 (24)
- Spain 325 (25)
extrainningsbaseball.wordpress.com 
How long had USA held the #1 position prior to this?
Amazingly, less than a year. Although the US is indisputably the best baseball nation in the world (with apologies to Japan), they do not field teams in several tournaments (U23 World Cup and qualifiers, certain continental events) and, therefore, cannot gain the points from participation.