It is the aftermath of the humiliating 3 consecutive first round elimination.
The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) released the men’s baseball world rankings on the 29th (Korean time). The results of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC), which ended on the 22nd, were reflected.
After a shocking first round elimination with 2 wins, 2 losses and 3rd place in WBC Group B, Korea could not avoid a drop in the rankings. As of December 31 last year, it fell one place from fourth place.
It’s a steady downhill road. After finishing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 4th place, he took 2nd place in the world rankings in August 2021, but after that, he drew a downward curve. Before I knew it, I came down to 5th place.
That’s why the ‘Tokyo catastrophe’ that I tasted in the first round of the last WBC was painful. The baseball team led by head coach Lee Kang-cheol suffered a shock defeat 7-8 in the first game of the group stage against Australia, followed by a crushing defeat to Japan 4-13, greatly damaging their pride. Although they won against the Czech Republic and China, they did not miraculously progress to the second round. 토토사이트
Along with that, the ranking point increased by only 621 points from the previous 3428 points to 4049 points. Mexico, which had succeeded in advancing to the semifinals of the WBC (previous 3273 points), scored 857 points and scored 4130 points, moving up to third place and falling behind in the rankings. Even Venezuela (3534 points), which ranked 6th, was pursued fiercely.
This is a point where you can clearly feel the weakening of the international competitiveness of Korean baseball. Recognizing a sense of crisis, the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) announced through its board meeting on the 27th that it would “establish comprehensive mid- to long-term measures to improve league performance and national team competitiveness.”
On the other hand, Japan, which succeeded in winning the WBC for the third time in 14 years with a seven-game winning streak, scored 5323 points, a whopping 1144 points higher than the previous announcement. Japan, the only country in the world to exceed 5,000 points, has a solid first place. It has been leading for 10 years since 2014. The gap with the United States (4,402 points), which finished runner-up and rose to second place, is also marginal.
Like Korea, Taiwan (4061 points), which was eliminated in the first round of Group A, fell from 2nd to 4th place. Australia, which advanced to the second round by defeating Korea, climbed to 9th place with 2,600 points. Italy (2017 points), which caused a sensation in Group A, rose four places to 12th place.