September 2008
First World Baseball Rankings
The International Baseball Federation has published the first ever international baseball ranking. Of the 50 countries rated, Sweden finishes in 22nd place.
But the ranking, based on World Championships, the Olympics, and the World Baseball Classic, seem a bit strange in some places. The Domincan Republic, a baseball powerhouse, is rated 16th, behind Mexico (8), Australia (9), China (10), Spain (11), Germany (13), Britain (14) and Italy (15). This makes no sense.
Personally I think Sweden is better than Britain, based on watching the two teams play here. That of course is more subjective than the system used for the ranking.
But how can Nicaragua be in 24th place, and Colombia number 30?
Nation Points
1. Japan 245.5
2. USA 239.9
3. Cuba 234.7
4. South Korea 231.4
5. Taiwan 157.6
6. Netherlands 150.5
7. Canada 131.6
8. Mexico 96.5
9. Australia 77.3
10. China 51.7
11. Spain 51.5
12. Venezuela 47.2
13. Germany 47.0
14. Great Britain 45.0
15. Italy 40.3
16. Dominican Republic 38.1
17. South Africa 35.8
18. Puerto Rico 32.8
19. Czech Repbulic 32.0
20. Panama 31.9
21. France 31.0
22. Sweden 25.0
Lithuanian 25.0
24. Nicaragua 20.0
Nigeria 20.0
26. Philippines 17.5
27. Croatia 15.0
Ghana 15.0
29. Brazil 14.0
30. Colombia 12.0
Stockholm Wins Swedish Baseball Championships
Stockholm won today’s away game at Karlskoga, taking the best of five series in three straight games.
Leading 5-2 after four innings, Stockholm held off Karlskoga to win 6-5. Joakim Claesson, winning pitcher in both games 2 and 3, was named as Most Valuable Player in the finals.
Last weekend Stockholm’s 16-19 year olds won the Swedish Junior Championships.
Stockholm Wins 2008 Junior Championship
<img src="http://www.laget.se/public_lag/images/_users/news/%5B10520%5D577563.jpg"
Shortly after Sunday’s Elite Division final victory, the Stockholm Juniors won this year’s Swedish Juniors Championship.
Stockholm defeated Eskilstuna 13-4. Jakob Claesson was the finals MVP, both for his pitching and hitting.
Stockholm secured its finals spot by defeating Sundbyberg on Saturday 13-3. Last place Eskilstuna made it the finals with a walkover when Leksand defaulted.
Sadly, HeatStat, the otherwise excellent statistics site operated by the Sundbyberg Heat baseball club, seems to have neglected this year’s Juniors series, so no boxscore from the game appears to be available online.
Stockholm Leads 2-1 in Swedish Championships
Daniel Wood bunts home a run for Stockholm
Stockholm defeated Karlskoga 8-2 Sunday, to take the second game of the 2008 Swedish Elite Division Baseball Championships. Following Saturday’s 6-2 victory, Stockholm leads the best-of-five series 2-1.
The Stockholm offense started early, with 4 runs in the first inning, and altogether 16 hits, including back-to-back triples by Peter Johannesen and Markus Rosenkvist in the 8th inning.
Photo: Peter Blomqvist
Joachim Claesson pitched a complete game to get the win, allowed 8 hits and 1 earned run, and with 5 strike-outs. The losing pitcher was Kent Karlsson.
The series now moves to Karlskoga next weekend, for game three, and if needed, games four and five.
Stockholm Takes Swedish Finals Opener
First pitch, 2008 Swedish Championships
Stockholm won the first game of the 2008 Swedish Elite Division baseball championships, defeating visiting Karlskoga 6-2. The winning pitcher was Tom Gilespie, losing pitcher Adam Sowell. Stockholm’s second baseman Daniel Wood turned two doubleplays.
Game two in the best-of-five series will be played at Stockholm’s Skarpnäck field on Sunday.
Next weekend the series moves to Karlskoga for game three and, if needed, games four and five.
Saturday’s game marks the first time a Swedish Championship has been played at Skarpnäck in 24 years.
<img alt="Photo: eter Blomqvist" text=""Photo: eter Blomqvist" src="http://www.baseboll-softboll.se/files/%7B0EBB11C3-8970-482B-9E05-5225FD5BC4A2%7D.jpg"
Stockholm and Karlskoga To Swedish Finals
Stockholm and Karlskoga will be facing each other in the finals of this year’s Swedish Elite Division.
Stockholm secured its spot with a 15-3 victory over home team Rättvik, taking the best of three series 2-1.
Karlskoga beat Sundbyberg 8-2 to take the series in two straight games.
The finals open this coming weekend at Stockholm’s home diamond at Skarpnäck and move back to Karlskoga the following weekend. The last game would be played September 21 at Karlskoga, if required in the best of five series.
Splits in Swedish Play-offs First Day
The Swedish Elite Division play-offs began Saturday, with first place Karlskoga hosting fourth place Sundbyberg, and third place Stockholm visiting runner-up Rättvik.
Karlskoga took the first game of the best-of-three series from Sundbyberg 17-5. Game two was rained out, and will be played Sunday, with a possible third game should Sundbyberg even the series.
Rättvik and Stockholm split on Saturday, with Stockholm taking the opener 8-1, but losing game two 10-7. That series will be decided by a game three on Sunday.
George Wood
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