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The WBSC World Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in baseball, softball, and baseball5. The teams of the member nations of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the world governing body for both sports, are ranked based on their tournament results with the most successful teams being ranked highest. A point system is used, with points being awarded based on the results of WBSC-recognized international tournaments. Under the existing system, rankings are based on a team's performance over the last four years, with major international tournaments awarded a higher weighting compared to minor international and continental tournaments.
Five rankings are published by the WBSC, they are: Men's Baseball, Women's Baseball, Women's Softball, Men's Softball, and Baseball5 (co-ed).[3]
History
editIn January 2009, the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) first published a listing in rank order of its member associations to provide a basis for comparison of the relative strengths of these teams. Though primarily focused on the respective men's senior teams of member nations, the rankings also include points awarded based on results at the U-18 Baseball World Cup, U-15 Baseball World Cup, and U-12 Baseball World Cup held during the tracking period. Following the merger with softball in 2013, the WBSC is also responsible for ranking international men's and women's softball teams.[4][5] Beginning in 2015, the rankings also determine which 12 men's baseball teams participate in the WBSC Premier12 tournament.
In 2025, the WBSC began using a new ranking methodology. Only the most recent edition of any event are included in the rankings, and teams will keep the ranking points from any event for four years.[6][5]
Men's
editBaseball
editMen's ranking leaders
edit
The November 2023 rankings included 80.[7] This increased to 83 at the end of 2025.[8]
Best Movers
edit
Softball
edit| Rank | Change | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
 Japan | 3128 |
| 2 | |
 Venezuela | 2797 |
| 3 |  1 |
 Canada | 2347 |
| 4 | 1 |
 United States | 2262 |
| 5 |  2 |
 Argentina | 2146 |
| 6 | 2 |
 Mexico | 1955 |
| 7 | |
 New Zealand | 1884 |
| 8 | 2 |
 Australia | 1828 |
| 9 | |
 Czech Republic | 1466 |
| 10 | 1 |
 Dominican Republic | 1027 |
| 11 | 1 |
 Singapore | 980 |
| 12 | 1 |
 Colombia | 796 |
| 13 | 1 |
 Guatemala | 660 |
| 14 | 5 |
 Denmark | 486 |
| 15 | 1 |
 South Africa | 425 |
| 16 | 1 |
 Hong Kong | 371 |
| 17 | 5 |
 Panama | 308 |
| 18 | 1 |
 Philippines | 290 |
| 19 | 1 |
 Chinese Taipei | 289 |
| 20 | |
 Netherlands | 239 |
| *Change from 31 December 2025 | |||
Women's
editSoftball
editWomen's ranking leaders
edit
The WBSC ranked 65 countries in softball in 2024 and 70 in 2025.[10][11]
Best Movers
edit| Date | First | Second | Third | Fourth | Fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 December 2018 | South Africa |
 Ireland |
 India |
Mexico |
Dominican Republic |
| 31 December 2019 |  Belgium |
 Germany |
 Poland |
 Spain |
Ireland |
| 28 June 2021 |  Croatia |
Germany |
 Slovakia |
Spain |
 Russia |
| 11 August 2021 |  Cuba |
 Indonesia |
Hong Kong |
 Botswana |
 Curaçao |
| 31 December 2021 | Denmark |
 Peru |
Belgium |
Slovakia |
 Sweden |
| 31 December 2022 | Argentina |
 El Salvador |
Slovakia |
 Greece |
 Israel |
| 12 April 2023 | Singapore |
Philippines |
 South Korea |
 Thailand |
Botswana |
| 31 July 2023 | Cuba |
Curaçao |
Botswana |
Venezuela |
South Africa |
| 10 November 2023 | Philippines |
Singapore |
Hong Kong |
Belgium |
 Hungary |
| 31 December 2023 | Dominican Republic |
Colombia |
Guatemala |
 Chile |
 Ecuador |
| 31 December 2024 | Sweden |
 Switzerland |
Belgium |
Colombia |
Greece |
Baseball
edit| Rank | Change | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
Japan | 1310 |
| 2 | |
United States | 918 |
| 3 | |
Canada | 755 |
| 4 | 2 |
Mexico | 746 |
| 5 | 1 |
Venezuela | 710 |
| 6 | 1 |
Chinese Taipei | 654 |
| 7 | 2 |
Cuba | 352 |
| 8 | |
Hong Kong | 312 |
| 9 | 2 |
 Puerto Rico | 297 |
| 10 | 3 |
Australia | 264 |
| 11 | |
Indonesia | 224 |
| 12 | 2 |
South Korea | 212 |
| 13 | 2 |
India | 171 |
| 14 | 1 |
 France | 164 |
| 15 | 13 |
 Great Britain | 160 |
| 16 | 1 |
Thailand | 146 |
| 17 | 3 |
 Pakistan | 125 |
| 18 | 4 |
Czech Republic | 112 |
| 19 | 1 |
 China | 96 |
| 20 | 1 |
 Sri Lanka | 94 |
| *Change from 23 July 2025 | |||
Japan has ranked #1 in every women's baseball ranking since 2011.[13][14]
In the wake of the International Olympic Committee's decision to cut baseball from the 2012 Olympics program, the IBAF pushed the growth of women's baseball to include a women's component in its bid for a reinstatement of the sport in future Olympics. The effort to unify the sports resulted in the merger of the IBAF with the International Softball Federation in 2013 to create the WBSC.[15]
The initial women's baseball rankings were based upon results from past Women's Baseball World Cups. While the calculations of the women's rankings are similar to that of the men's, one difference was that they included the three most recent IBAF Women's Baseball World Cups whereas the men's rankings only included the last two. Points are weighted in favor of the more recent results.[16] As of 2025, all WBSC rankings use a four-year cycle.[5]
Coed
editBaseball5
editBaseball5 is a mixed-gender sport, with each team of 5 active players having at least 2 players of either gender.
| Rank | Change | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |
Cuba | 5827 |
| 2 | 2 |
Chinese Taipei | 4801 |
| 3 | 1 |
Japan | 4385 |
| 4 | 1 |
France | 4375 |
| 5 | 1 |
Mexico | 3843 |
| 6 | 1 |
 Tunisia | 3606 |
| 7 | |
Venezuela | 3324 |
| 8 | |
 Lithuania | 2863 |
| 9 | 1 |
 Turkey | 2800 |
| 10 | 1 |
 Kenya | 2430 |
| 11 | |
South Korea | 2127 |
| 12 | |
Spain | 1912 |
| 13 | |
South Africa | 1621 |
| 14 | 9 |
 Italy | 1326 |
| 15 | 9 |
Hong Kong | 1316 |
| 16 | 1 |
Thailand | 1205 |
| 17 | 3 |
Netherlands | 1130 |
| 18 | 2 |
 Romania | 1123 |
| 19 | 5 |
China | 1120 |
| 20 | 3 |
 Ghana | 1055 |
| *Change from 23 April 2026 | |||
Calculation method
editMen's baseball
editThis section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Not in line with 2025 ranking methodology. (January 2026) |
Points are awarded in the men's baseball rankings according to finishes in the Premier12, World Baseball Classic, U-23 Baseball World Cup, U-18 Baseball World Cup, U-15 Baseball World Cup and U-12 Baseball World Cup as follows.[18] These rankings were adjusted in 2025.[5][6]
Premier12
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 1380 | 1102 | 1004 | 906 | 808 | 710 | 612 | 514 | 416 | 318 | 220 | 122 |
World Baseball Classic
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| Points | 1150 | 953 | 905 | 858 | 811 | 763 | 716 | 668 | 621 | 574 | 526 | 479 | 432 | 384 | 337 | 289 | 242 | 195 | 147 | 100 |
U-23 Baseball World Cup
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 690 | 551 | 502 | 453 | 404 | 355 | 306 | 257 | 208 | 159 | 110 | 61 |
U-18 Baseball World Cup
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 575 | 459 | 418 | 377 | 336 | 295 | 254 | 213 | 172 | 131 | 90 | 49 |
U-15 Baseball World Cup
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 460 | 367 | 334 | 301 | 268 | 235 | 202 | 169 | 136 | 103 | 70 | 37 |
U-12 Baseball World Cup
edit| Final rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Points | 345 | 275 | 250 | 225 | 200 | 175 | 150 | 125 | 100 | 75 | 50 | 25 |
Controversies
editCriticism of the WBSC World Ranking focus on how the rankings are calculated and how each countries' strengths are often misrepresented.[19]
The current system strongly favors the winners of the WBSC Premier12, awarding 1380 points. This is greater than that of winning the World Baseball Classic (WBC), which awards just 1150 points. This practice has led to some controversies, as players on the active roster for Major League Baseball (MLB), arguably the world's best players, do not participate in the Premier12.[20] This in turn causes the ranking to be disproportionately unfavorable to countries with more players in MLB, such as the United States or the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic, despite winning the 2013 WBC, have never been in the top 5 rankings, despite having the second most active players in MLB, behind the U.S.[21]
Additionally, the current rankings system includes junior competitions, such as the U-12 Baseball World Cup.[22] Critics argue that this practice alters the rankings to misrepresent how well the senior men's team perform by including irrelevant competitions within the ranking.
See also
editNotes and references
edit- ↑ "WBSC World Rankings". WBSC. 26 March 2026. Retrieved 26 March 2026.
- ↑ "The WBSC Women's World Ranking". WBSC. 31 December 2025. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "WBSC launches first-ever Baseball5 World Rankings". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ↑ "WBSC launches first-ever Softball World Rankings: Japan Women's No. 1, New Zealand Men's No. 1". Mister Baseball. March 22, 2016. Retrieved 29 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "WBSC World Rankings Guidelines" (PDF). World Baseball Softball Confederation. July 2025.
- 1 2 "New WBSC World Ranking methodology starts in 2025". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ↑ "Record 86 nations featured in March 2020 WBSC Baseball World Rankings". wbsc.org. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
- ↑ "Japan closes 2025 on top of WBSC Men's Baseball World Ranking". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ "The WBSC Men's Softball World Ranking". WBSC. 14 May 2026. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
- ↑ "WBSC/KONAMI Women's Softball World Ranking: Netherlands gain most points, Sweden make biggest leap as USA stay No. 1 in 2024". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2025-04-10.
- ↑ "Women's softball reaches new global milestone as WBSC Ranking expands to 70 programmes". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ "The WBSC Women's Baseball World Ranking". WBSC. 31 December 2025. Retrieved 31 December 2025.
- ↑ "Japan continues to lead WBSC Women's Baseball World Ranking". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ "WBSC World Rankings". WBSC. Retrieved 2026-01-06.
- ↑ "ABOUT THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
- ↑ "IBAF Releases First-Ever Women's World Rankings". International Baseball Federation. 13 August 2009. Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2009.
- ↑ "The WBSC Baseball5 World Ranking". WBSC. 6 May 2026. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ↑ "WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's". WBSC. Archived from the original on 21 December 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
- ↑ Jaehyeong, Roh. "세계랭킹 5위의 허상과 WBC서 드러난 한국야구의 민낯" [The illusion of world No. 5 and the shamelessness of Korean baseball revealed at the WBC].
- ↑ May, Jeffrey (2024-11-08). "Why are MLB players not playing in the WBSC Premier12 2024?". AS USA. Retrieved 2025-01-22.
- ↑ "Opening Day Rosters Feature 264 Internationally-Born Players". MLB.com. Retrieved 2025-04-15.
- ↑ "プレミア１２が変えた世界ランキング…６位の韓国、台湾との差さらに広がる（ハンギョレ新聞）". Yahoo!ニュース (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-01-23.