The battle for third place in the WBSC/KONAMI Women's Baseball World Ranking is tight, with only 14 points separating four teams from third to sixth.
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<p>After a fantastic World Championship campaign, securing their seventh consecutive world title at the <a href="https://www.wbsc.org/en/events/2024-ix-womens-baseball-world-cup-finals/home">WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Finals 2024 presented by CARNEXT</a>, Japan remain the best women's baseball programme in the world at the top of the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="WBSC/KONAMI Women's Baseball World Ranking (opens in a new tab)" href="https://wbsc.org/en/rankings/baseball-w" target="_blank">WBSC/KONAMI Women's Baseball World Ranking</a>, extending their lead from 103 points ahead of Chinese Taipei in the previous ranking (as at 31.12.2023) to 487 points ahead of USA, the new No. 2. </p>
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<p>USA and Canada moved up two and four spots, respectively, to No. 2 and No. 3. Thus, the top three in the ranking now mirror the podium of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Finals 2024 that concluded in Thunder Bay, Canada last weekend.</p>
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<p>Having claimed the seventh out of nine WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup editions on Saturday, Japan confirmed their dominance in the discipline tallying 1,405 points. The 640 points gained after the Finals gives them a 487-point lead over USA in the No. 2 position.</p>
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<p><a href="https://wbsc.org/en/rankings/baseball-w"><img src="https://static.wbsc.org/assets/cms/shares/202408_WBSC_Wbaseball_ranking_TOT_1600x800.jpg" alt="WBSC/KONAMI Women's Baseball World Ranking" width="100%" height="auto"></a></p>
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<p>USA, who moved up two positions from No. 4 after claiming 408 points as silver medallists, recovered second place in the ranking after almost seven years, having dropped to third place in December 2017 and fifth one year later before recovering to fourth in 2021.</p>
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<p>The battle for third place is tight, with only 14 points now separating four teams from third to sixth. Canada defeated Mexico in the bronze medal game, 4-2, securing not only their seventh medal in the history of the competition, but also 327 ranking points, allowing them to move up four positions and finish in third place in the ranking with 755 points. </p>
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<p>Venezuela dropped one place and is now fourth in the world with 745 points, while Chinese Taipei, who finished sixth in the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup, lost three spots from second down to fifth having previously held the second spot since June 2021. </p>
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<p>With 741 points, WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup debutants Mexico are now sixth.</p>
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<p>The points calculation includes results of international tournaments over a four year period. You can see the ranking methodology <a href="https://static.wbsc.org/uploads/federations/0/cms/documents/8499417b-0fdd-4eb8-62e1-7bd40690b838.pdf">here</a>.</p>
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