WBSC World Rankings

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), baseball's world governing body, 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.

Top 20 rankings
Men's Baseball as of 28 March 2023[1]
Rank Change Team Points
1Steady  Japan5323
2Increase 1  United States4402
3Increase 2  Mexico4130
4Decrease 2  Chinese Taipei4061
5Decrease 1  South Korea4049
6Steady  Venezuela3534
7Increase 1  Cuba3151
8Decrease 1  Netherlands3089
9Increase 1  Australia2600
10Decrease 1  Dominican Republic2415
11Increase 2  Puerto Rico2230
12Increase 4  Italy2017
13Increase 1  Canada1970
14Decrease 2  Panama1936
15Decrease 4  Colombia1826
16Decrease 1  Czech Republic1745
17Steady  Nicaragua1334
18Increase 2  Israel1134
19Decrease 1  Germany1075
20Increase 2  Great Britain882
*Change from 31 December 2022
Women's Softball as of 31 December 2022[2]
Rank Change Team Points
1Steady  United States4288
2Steady  Japan2697
3Increase 3  Chinese Taipei2502
4Decrease 1  Canada2342
5Steady  Puerto Rico2330
6Decrease 2  Mexico1927
7Increase 4  Czech Republic1789
8Decrease 1  Italy1776
9Decrease 1  Australia1529
10Steady  Netherlands1498
11Increase 6  Spain936
12Increase 8  Israel844
13Decrease 4  China829
14Increase 4  France791
15Increase 6  Germany779
16Decrease 4  Great Britain761
17Increase 2  Ireland710
18Decrease 2  Brazil644
19Increase 3  Peru631
20Increase 6  Poland608
*Change from 31 December 2021

Five rankings are published by the WBSC, they are: Men's Baseball, Women's Baseball, Women's Softball, Men's Softball, and Baseball5.[3]

History

In 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 current ranks also include points awarded based on results at the IBAF 'AAA' (Under 18) Junior and 'AA' (Under 16) Youth Championships held during the tracking period. As a result from the merger with softball in 2013, the WBSC is also responsible for ranking international men's and women's softball teams.[4] Beginning in 2015, the rankings also determine which twelve teams participate in the WBSC Premier12 tournament.

Men's

Men's ranking leaders
WBSC World Men's Ranking Leaders
Teams ranking in the top five
Date First Second Third Fourth Fifth
31 December 2012  Cuba  United States  Japan  South Korea  Chinese Taipei
31 December 2014  Japan  United States  Cuba  Chinese Taipei  Netherlands
31 December 2016  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  Cuba
25 September 2018  United States  Japan  South Korea  Cuba  Chinese Taipei
17 December 2018  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  Cuba
31 December 2019  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  Mexico
18 March 2020  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  Mexico
28 June 2021  Japan  Chinese Taipei  South Korea  United States  Mexico
11 August 2021  Japan  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  United States  Mexico
31 December 2021  Japan  Chinese Taipei  South Korea  Mexico  United States
31 December 2022  Japan  Chinese Taipei  United States  South Korea  Mexico
28 March 2023  Japan  United States  Mexico  Chinese Taipei  South Korea

The latest rankings of March 2023 saw a record 84 nations earning rankings.[5]

Best Movers
Top five movers per ranking
Date First Second Third Fourth Fifth
31 December 2014  Israel  Curaçao  Iran  Slovenia  Austria
31 December 2016  Guatemala  Slovakia  Sweden  Poland  Lithuania
25 September 2018  Israel  Indonesia  El Salvador  Sri Lanka  Honduras
17 December 2018  Curaçao  U.S. Virgin Islands  Aruba  South Africa  Venezuela
31 December 2019  American Samoa  Guam  Greece  Great Britain  Spain
18 March 2020  Guam  El Salvador  New Zealand  Honduras  Peru
28 June 2021  Switzerland  Honduras  Indonesia  Aruba  Nigeria
11 August 2021  Slovenia  Ireland  Croatia  Uganda  American Samoa
31 December 2021  Sweden  Hungary  Croatia  Great Britain  Venezuela
31 December 2022  Northern Mariana Islands  Bahamas  Curaçao  Bulgaria  Palau
28 March 2023  Costa Rica  Bangladesh  Honduras  China  Kenya

Softball
Top 20 Rankings as of 26 April 2023[6]
Rank Change Team Points
1Steady  Argentina4224
2Increase 2  Australia3551
3Steady  Japan3451
4Decrease 2  Canada3358
5Steady  United States2655
6Steady  Czech Republic2526
7Steady  New Zealand2280
8Steady  Venezuela2133
9Steady  Cuba1807
10Steady  Mexico1775
11Steady  Denmark1069
12Increase 2  Singapore994
13Steady  Guatemala934
14Decrease 2  South Africa894
15Steady  Philippines623
16Steady  Netherlands412
17Increase 4  Israel339
18Decrease 1  Botswana253
19Decrease 1  Dominican Republic221
20Decrease 1  Chinese Taipei192
*Change from 31 December 2022

Women's

Women's ranking leaders
WBSC World Women's Ranking Leaders
Teams ranking in the top five
Date First Second Third Fourth Fifth
31 December 2016  Japan  United States  Canada  Australia  New Zealand
17 December 2018  United States  Japan  Canada  Puerto Rico  Mexico
31 December 2019  United States  Japan  Canada  Puerto Rico  Mexico
1 January 2020  United States  Japan  Canada  Puerto Rico  Mexico
28 June 2021  United States  Japan  Canada  Puerto Rico  Mexico
11 August 2021  Japan  United States  Canada  Mexico  Puerto Rico
31 December 2021  United States  Japan  Canada  Mexico  Puerto Rico
31 December 2022  United States  Japan  Chinese Taipei  Canada  Puerto Rico

Softball saw a ranking featuring 63 countries in December 2022.[7]

Best Movers
Top five movers per ranking
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

Baseball
Top 20 Rankings as of 31 December 2021[8]
Rank Change Team Points
1Steady  Japan1355
2Steady  Chinese Taipei1097
3Steady  Canada1029
4Steady  United States1015
5Steady  Venezuela900
6Steady  Dominican Republic717
7Steady  Cuba520
8Steady  Australia509
9Steady  Puerto Rico371
10Steady  South Korea364
11Steady  Hong Kong256
12Steady  Mexico160
13Steady  Netherlands155
14Steady  Philippines152
15Steady  China126
16Steady  France100
17Steady  Nicaragua59
18Steady  India47
19Steady  Pakistan21
20Steady  Czech Republic10
*Change from 11 August 2021

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 as 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.[9]

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 main difference is that they are inclusive of the three most recent IBAF Women's Baseball World Cups whereas the men's rankings only include the last two. Points are weighted in favor of the more recent results.[10]

Coed

Baseball5

Baseball5 is a mixed-gender sport, with each team of 5 active players having at least 2 players of either gender.

Top 20 Rankings as of 12 January 2023[11]
Rank Change Team Points
1Steady  Cuba2055
2Steady  Chinese Taipei1679
3Steady  France1650
4Steady  Japan1635
5Steady  Venezuela1370
6Steady  South Africa1286
7Steady  Lithuania1213
8Steady  Tunisia1174
9Steady  Kenya1046
10Steady  Italy819
11Steady  Mexico807
12Steady  South Korea781
13Steady  Netherlands714
14Steady  Romania710
15Steady  Czech Republic600
16Steady  Belgium532
17Steady  Russia528
18Steady  Hong Kong518
19Steady  Bulgaria466
20Steady  Turkey465
*New Rankings

Calculation method

Men's baseball

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.[12]

Premier 12
Final rank123456789101112
Points138011021004906808710612514416318220122

World Baseball Classic
Final rank12345678910111213141516
Points1150940880820760700640580520460400340280220160100

U-23 Baseball World Cup
Final rank123456789101112
Points69055150245340435530625720815911061

U-18 Baseball World Cup
Final rank123456789101112
Points5754594183773362952542131721319049

U-15 Baseball World Cup
Final rank123456789101112
Points4603673343012682352021691361037037

U-12 Baseball World Cup
Final rank123456789101112
Points345275250225200175150125100755025

See also

Notes and references
  1. "The WBSC World Ranking". WBSC. 28 March 2023. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  2. "The WBSC Women's World Ranking". WBSC. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  3. "WBSC launches first-ever Baseball5 World Rankings". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
  4. "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.
  5. "Record 86 nations featured in March 2020 WBSC Baseball World Rankings". wbsc.org. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. "The WBSC Men's Softball World Ranking". WBSC. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  7. "WBSC Rankings – Women's softball". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  8. "The WBSC Women's Baseball World Ranking". WBSC. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  9. "ABOUT THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  10. "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.
  11. "The WBSC Baseball5 World Ranking". WBSC. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  12. "WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's". rankings.wbsc.org. WBSC. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
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