New Zealand are 466 points ahead at the top of the WBSC Men’s Softball rankings ©Getty Images

The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) have revealed their final rankings list from 2017 with New Zealand remaining the top men’s team in the world.

New Zealand won a record eighth WBSC Men’s Softball World Championship in Whitehorse in Canada, last July and their points total of 3,540 puts them 466 points ahead of second place Canada, who have moved up from fourth to second.

Japan have dropped down to third in the rankings, however, they are just 48 points behind Canada.

The largest jump in the rankings was achieved by Botswana.

They have moved up seven places to 12th thanks to their highest-ever finish of eighth at the 2017 Men’s Softball World Championship.

Botswana moved up seven places in the final men's softball rankings of 2017 ©Botswana Softball Association
Botswana moved up seven places in the final men's softball rankings of 2017 ©Botswana Softball Association

Last year also saw 13 newcomers break into the WBSC Men’s Softball World Rankings following an increase in the number of WBSC-sanctioned events.

All World Championship qualifiers, as well as Continental Championships, are now factored into the rankings, allowing Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico and Turkey to register their first-ever rankings points.

The WBSC Softball World Rankings track a country’s entire national team performance in all WBSC-sanctioned international competitions over a four-year period, including the under-19 junior men’s and Men’s Softball World Championships, multi-sport games, Continental Championships and friendly series.