Top 20 rankings as of December 2022
Men's baseball[1]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Increase 3 Dominican Republic Dominican Republic 4179
2 Steady Japan Japan 4169
3 Steady Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei 3819
4 Increase 2 United States United States 3449
5 Decrease 1 South Korea South Korea 3428
6 Decrease 1 Mexico Mexico 3273
7 Increase 1 Venezuela Venezuela 2723
8 Increase 1 Netherlands Netherlands 2468
9 Increase 1 Cuba Cuba 2246
10 Steady Australia Australia 1889
11 Steady Colombia Colombia 1669
12 Increase 1 Panama Panama 1529
13 Increase 3 Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 1419
14 Decrease 2 Canada Canada 1404
15 Decrease 1 Czech Republic Czech Republic 1313
16 Increase 1 Italy Italy 1206
17 Decrease 2 Nicaragua Nicaragua 1117
18 Steady Germany Germany 1075
19 Steady Spain Spain 806
20 Steady Israel Israel 702
Women's softball[2]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady United States United States 4288
2 Steady Japan Japan 2697
3 Increase 3 Chinese Taipei Chinese Taipei 2502
4 Decrease 1 Canada Canada 2342
5 Steady Puerto Rico Puerto Rico 2330
6 Decrease 2 Mexico Mexico 1927
7 Increase 4 Czech Republic Czech Republic 1789
8 Decrease 1 Italy Italy 1776
9 Decrease 1 Australia Australia 1529
10 Steady Netherlands Netherlands 1498
11 Increase 6 Spain Spain 936
12 Increase 8 Israel Israel 844
13 Decrease 4 China China 829
14 Increase 4 France France 791
15 Increase 6 Germany Germany 779
16 Decrease 4 United Kingdom Great Britain 761
17 Increase 2 Republic of Ireland Ireland 710
18 Decrease 2 Brazil Brazil 644
19 Increase 3 Peru Peru 631
20 Increase 6 Poland Poland 608

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.

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

Baseball

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

The latest rankings of March 2020 saw a record 86 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

Softball

Top 20 Rankings as of 31 December 2022[6]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady  Argentina 3722
2 Increase 1  Canada 2954
3 Decrease 1  Japan 2909
4 Steady  Australia 2864
5 Increase 2  United States 2655
6 Decrease 1  Czech Republic 2221
7 Decrease 1  New Zealand 1934
8 Increase 1  Venezuela 1877
9 Increase 3  Cuba 1807
10 Decrease 2  Mexico 1322
11 Decrease 1  Denmark 1069
12 Decrease 1  South Africa 1004
13 Steady  Guatemala 825
14 Increase 1  Singapore 787
15 Increase 6  Philippines 623
16 Decrease 2  Netherlands 412
17 Steady  Botswana 363
18 Increase 2  Dominican Republic 221
19 Steady  Chinese Taipei 192
20 Decrease 2  Croatia 182
*Change from 31 May 2022

Women's

Softball

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 69 countries in March 2020.[2]

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[7]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady  Japan 1355
2 Steady  Chinese Taipei 1097
3 Steady  Canada 1029
4 Steady  United States 1015
5 Steady  Venezuela 900
6 Steady  Dominican Republic 717
7 Steady  Cuba 520
8 Steady  Australia 509
9 Steady  Puerto Rico 371
10 Steady  South Korea 364
11 Steady  Hong Kong 256
12 Steady  Mexico 160
13 Steady  Netherlands 155
14 Steady  Philippines 152
15 Steady  China 126
16 Steady  France 100
17 Steady  Nicaragua 59
18 Steady  India 47
19 Steady  Pakistan 21
20 Steady  Czech Republic 10
*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.[8]

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.[9]

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[10]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady  Cuba 2055
2 Steady  Chinese Taipei 1679
3 Steady  France 1650
4 Steady  Japan 1635
5 Steady  Venezuela 1370
6 Steady  South Africa 1286
7 Steady  Lithuania 1213
8 Steady  Tunisia 1174
9 Steady  Kenya 1046
10 Steady  Italy 819
11 Steady  Mexico 807
12 Steady  South Korea 781
13 Steady  Netherlands 714
14 Steady  Romania 710
15 Steady  Czech Republic 600
16 Steady  Belgium 532
17 Steady  Russia 528
18 Steady  Hong Kong 518
19 Steady  Bulgaria 466
20 Steady  Turkey 465
*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.[11]

Premier 12

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

Final rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Points 1150 940 880 820 760 700 640 580 520 460 400 340 280 220 160 100

U-23 Baseball World Cup

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

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

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

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

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ "WBSC Rankings – Men's baseball". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b "WBSC Rankings – Women's softball". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 20 January 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. 31 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  7. ^ "The WBSC Women's Baseball World Ranking". WBSC. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.
  8. ^ "ABOUT THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "The WBSC Baseball5 World Ranking". WBSC. 12 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  11. ^ "WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's". rankings.wbsc.org. WBSC. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

External links

WBSC
International baseball
International softball
Sports world rankings
Categories