OK, here's an update.
That's cricket, mate
I downgraded countries that are full members of the International Cricket Council, largely by dividing their power ratings by the square root of 2. (When you have a math background like mine, you always want to divide or multiply
everything by the square root of two...it's just such a perfect number
) The full members are India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, UK, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies. (I left Australia's and South Africa's ratings alone, since they're both in the Top 26 and have proved themselves in international baseball competition; also I kept West Indies [actually several island nations] and the UK the same because of their contributions to MLB [see below].)
A kick in the grass
Interestingly, many of the top teams in the FIFA world rankings [like Brazil, Mexico, the US and the Czech Republic (!)] are also in Baseball's Top 26. (Probably a function of the fact that they're just plain large countries, or are in a warm-weather part of the planet, or both.) So the only countries I decided to ding because they had good soccer teams were Argentina and Portugal, and not by much.
Goin' the big leagues
Here's a complete list of the foreign countries that have produced at least five MLB players (thanks, Baseball-Reference):
Dominican Republic 410
Puerto Rico 215
Canada 205
Venezuela 181
Cuba 150
Mexico 98
Panama 45
Germany (incl. W. Germany) 41
Ireland 40
Japan 32
England 30
Australia 19
South Korea 12
Virgin Islands 10
France 8
Nicaragua 8
Scotland 8
Colombia 7
Italy 6
Holland 6
Bahamas 5
Curacao 5
Russia 5
I don't know what's more amazing...the fact that the Dominicans have produced
410 major leaguers, or the fact that Haiti, located on the very same island as the DR,
has never produced any!
Germany, Ireland and (especially) Venezuela, the only countries high on this list that weren't in the original Power ratings Top 25, get a boost. And the UK and the Carribean nations get to stay where they are and not pay the Cricket Tax.
Hot enough for you?
I decided not to award (or take away) any points for weather, since any baseball-playing country worth their salt has to have at least
part of their territory in nice weather most of the time. Besides, what's the point in punishing Greenland further?
So now, here's the updated list (I eliminated the zeroes, wise guys
):
U.S.A. 100
Cuba 90
Japan 88
South Korea 86
Panama 84
Canada 82
Chinese Taipei 80
Mexico 78
Nicaragua 76
Rep.Dominicana 74
Netherlands 72
Brazil 70
Puerto Rico 68
China 66
Italy 64
Australia 62
Colombia 60
Venezuela 60
Philippines 58
Russia 56
South Africa 54
France 52
Spain 50
Sweden 48
Greece 46
Czech Republic 44
Indonesia 40
Nigeria 36
Germany 31
India 30
Pakistan 29
Iran 26
Turkey 26
Thailand 25
Great Britain 24
Myanmar 21
Ukraine 21
Poland 20
Vietnam 19
Egypt 18
Ethiopia 18
Kenya 18
Morocco 18
Perú 17
Democratic Republic of the Congo 16
Malaysia 16
Uganda 16
Uzbekistan 16
North Korea 15
Romania 15
Argentina 14
Bangladesh 14
Ghana 14
Cameroon 13
Chile 13
Ivory Coast 13
Kazakhstan 13
Sudan 13
Tanzania 13
Algeria 12
Guatemala 12
Afghanistan 11
Ecuador 11
Iraq 11
Mali 11
Nepal 11
Saudi Arabia 11
Zambia 11
Belarus 10
Belgium 10
Hungary 10
Serbia and Montenegro 10
Sri Lanka 10
Tunisia 10
Austria 9
Bolivia 9
Bulgaria 9
Madagascar 9
Mozambique 9
Switzerland 9
Syria 9
Yemen 9
Burkina Faso 8
Cambodia 8
El Salvador 8
Honduras 8
Hong Kong 8
Israel 8
Portugal 8
Zimbabwe 8
Angola 7
Chad 7
Croatia 7
Denmark 7
Finland 7
Georgia 7
Malawi 7
Moldova 7
Niger 7
Norway 7
Papua New Guinea 7
Senegal 7
Singapore 7
Slovakia 7
Togo 7
Azerbaijan 6
Benin 6
Costa Rica 6
Guinea 6
Haiti 6
Ireland 6
Liberia 6
Lithuania 6
Rwanda 6
Somalia 6
Tajikistan 6
Armenia 5
Burundi 5
Jamaica 5
Jordan 5
Kyrgyzstan 5
Laos 5
Libya 5
Mongolia 5
Namibia 5
New Zealand 5
Paraguay 5
Sierra Leone 5
Turkmenistan 5
Albania 4
Bosnia and Herzegovina 4
Central African Republic 4
Eritrea 4
Estonia 4
Lebanon 4
Lesotho 4
Mauritania 4
Oman 4
Republic of the Congo 4
Slovenia 4
Uruguay 4
Bhutan 3
Botswana 3
Cyprus 3
Fiji 3
Kuwait 3
Latvia 3
Republic of Macedonia 3
The Gambia 3
United Arab Emirates 3
West Bank 3
American Samoa 2
Aruba 2
Bahamas 2
Bahrain 2
British Virgin Islands 2
Brunei 2
Comoros 2
Cook Islands 2
East Timor 2
Equatorial Guinea 2
Gabon 2
Gaza Strip 2
Guam 2
Guinea-Bissau 2
Guyana 2
Malta 2
Mauritius 2
Micronesia 2
Netherlands Antilles 2
Palau 2
Qatar 2
Réunion 2
Samoa 2
San Marino 2
Solomon Islands 2
Swaziland 2
Trinidad and Tobago 2
U.S. Virgin Islands 2
Andorra 1
Anguilla 1
Antigua and Barbuda 1
Barbados 1
Belize 1
Bermuda 1
Cape Verde 1
Cayman Islands 1
Djibouti 1
Dominica 1
Faroe Islands 1
French Guiana 1
French Polynesia 1
Gibraltar 1
Greenland 1
Grenada 1
Guadeloupe 1
Guernsey 1
Iceland 1
Isle of Man 1
Jersey 1
Kiribati 1
Liechtenstein 1
Luxembourg 1
Macau SAR (PRC) 1
Maldives 1
Marshall Islands 1
Martinique 1
Mayotte 1
Monaco 1
Nauru 1
New Caledonia 1
Northern Mariana Islands 1
Saint Kitts and Nevis 1
Saint Lucia 1
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1
São Tomé and
Príncipe 1
Seychelles 1
Suriname 1
Tonga 1
Turks and Caicos Islands 1
Tuvalu 1
Vanuatu 1
Wallis and Futuna 1
Western Sahara 1
No, I feel fine. Why do you ask...?
