International Baseball Slam (Series)

The International Baseball Slam is a baseball tournament held after every World Baseball Classic. Originally founded by Super-Llamaland, it has become a regular event on NS Sports. The defending champion is Gregoryisgodistan.

International Baseball Slam I
On June 15, 2013, Super-Llamaland opened signups for the IBS to the multiverse. They created the tournament because aside from the WBC, there was no other baseball tournament that regularly occured. Eight nations signed up within four days and Shadowbourne was chosen as the host. Unforunately, an issue with cable enabled Super-Llamaland to become host. In a double-elimination bracket, featuring Shadowbourne's interesting two-game series and fun RP challenges (which Llamaland took over). The semifinalists were Costa Luna, Shadowbourne, Sova Empire, and Super-Llamaland (in order of finish). Costa Luna prevailed over Shadowbourne 7-2, 5-2, 6-3.

http://challonge.com/BaseballSlam/log

International Baseball Slam II
Shortly after IBS I, the everything thread for IBS II was posted on July 18, 2013. Unlike IBS I's double-elimination bracket, IBS II consisted of two groups of four. As in IBS I, there was only one hosting bid, and that was the nation of Sangti.

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=253110

IC-ly, there was trouble as Costa Luna and Gregoryisgodistan both closed their borders after an attempt on the Costa Luna Princess's life by Gregoryisgodistan's secret agents (which may or may not have actually involved a Gregoryisgodistani actress) and some crude parody on a Gregoryisgodistan TV Show, "Costa Lunians say the Darndest Things". The final four were Costa Luna, Sova Empire, Gregoryisgodistan, and Unolia (Jahistic Unified Republic). In the final, Gregoryisgodistan triumphed over Sova Empire, 3-1. Costa Luna beat OrigamiMaster for third. Unolia won the Fifth Place Wooden Trophy over Super-Llamaland, and Sangti edged Levivania for the At Least We Have A Trophy Trophy.

International Baseball Slam III

Next in the IBS installments came IBS III, which began on September 22, 2013. Super-Llamaland's host bid beat out a joke bid from Gregoryisgodistan by a 8-0 vote. It became co-hosted by Llamaland and New Wolfopolis. The tournament saw seven new nations to IBS, including New Wolfopolis and Nova Anglicana, who would place highly.

http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=262804

Nova Anglicana surprised #1 seed Llamaland in the quarterfinals while Sova Empire was upset by Smoya. The semifinals featured Smoya, Gregoryisgodistan, New Wolfopolis, and Nova Anglicana. Gregoryisgodistan beat Nova Anglicana in the finals 3-1 for their second IBS while New Wolfopolis took third.

Rankings
As of December, there is still not a clear ranking system. The ranking system used in IBS III can be found here, but it was way too complex. The IBS is planning to adopt a system similar to the one used by the International Basketball Championship.

Post-IBS 3 Ranks: http://forum.nationstates.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=262804&start=100#p17233841