Updated 13:05:43 on 2-Oct 2014
LAUSANNE, Switzerland – Baseball will again be featured at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games, and will be played from 15-21 November at the multi-sport (36) event in Veracruz, Mexico.
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico and Venezuela will be the eight nations in action in Veracruz, reports the Pan-American Baseball Confederation (COPABE) – IBAF’s/WBSC’s baseball arm for North-, Central- and South America, and the Caribbean.
The international baseball event is sanctioned by COPABE and baseball’s world governing body, and will immediately follow the inaugural 21U Baseball World Cup in Taichung, Taiwan.
At the 2010 CACG in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic defeated Mexico, 3-2, in the gold medal finale, while Nicaragua defeated Puerto Rico, 7-6, to secure the bronze.
In 2013, Dominican Republic won the World Baseball Classic, which, coupled with the gold in Mayaguez, catapulted DR to as high as fifth in the IBAF World Rankings.
With rankings points now expired from Central America’s ‘Games’ in 2010, the Dominican Republic has fallen to seventh in the world rankings released today.
Interest in the IBAF World Rankings has skyrocketed since baseball’s world governing body announced that the world rankings will be the exclusive qualification method for “The Premier 12” — the new flagship international tournament that will feature professional players and will hand out a US$ multi-million purse of prize money to the participating National Teams/National Federations.
Both No. 12 Panama and host Mexico are competing in the 2014 CACG.
No. 13 Mexico will also be competing in the 21U Baseball World Cup in Taiwan, along with and No. 15 Australia – which is helping to build additional excitement and storylines surrounding the 21U world championship, as the newest Baseball World Cup platform is being rolled out.
The IBAF will grant rankings points for the CACG as follows:
- 1st – 50 points
- 2nd – 40 points
- 3rd – 30 points
- 4th – 15 points
- 5th – 11.5 points
- 6th – 8 points
- 7th – 4.5 points
- 8th – 1 point
The final 2014 IBAF World Rankings will be calculated and announced this November, with the top 12 nations earning a ticket to the first-ever Premier 12 in Taiwan in November 2015.
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