Top 20 rankings
Men's Baseball as of 18 December 2023[1]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady  Japan 5797
2 Steady  Mexico 4764
3 Steady  United States 4492
4 Steady  South Korea 4353
5 Steady  Chinese Taipei 4170
6 Steady  Venezuela 3975
7 Steady  Netherlands 3288
8 Steady  Cuba 3121
9 Steady  Dominican Republic 2667
10 Steady  Panama 2534
11 Steady  Australia 2367
12 Steady  Puerto Rico 2355
13 Steady  Colombia 2105
14 Steady  Italy 1939
15 Steady  Czech Republic 1900
16 Steady  Canada 1397
17 Steady  Germany 1223
18 Steady  Great Britain 1142
19 Steady  Israel 1086
20 Steady  Nicaragua 1021
*Change from 2 November 2023
Women's Softball as of 10 November 2023[2]
Rank Change Team Points
1 Steady  United States 4301
2 Steady  Japan 2899
3 Steady  Puerto Rico 2815
4 Increase 1  Chinese Taipei 2573
5 Decrease 1  Canada 1885
6 Increase 2  Italy 1816
7 Decrease 1  Mexico 1684
8 Increase 1  Netherlands 1602
9 Increase 1  Czech Republic 1483
10 Decrease 3  Australia 1379
11 Increase 3  Cuba 953
12 Steady  Spain 950
13 Steady  Great Britain 936
14 Increase 7  Philippines 898
15 Decrease 4  China 845
16 Increase 2  Peru 771
17 Decrease 2  Venezuela 770
18 Increase 1  Israel 725
19 Increase 1  Germany 646
20 Increase 2  France 624
*Change from 31 July 2023

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 edit

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 edit

Baseball edit

Men's ranking leaders edit

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
15 August 2023   Japan   United States   Mexico   South Korea   Chinese Taipei
5 October 2023   Japan   United States   Mexico   South Korea   Chinese Taipei
2 November 2023   Japan   Mexico   United States   South Korea   Chinese Taipei
18 December 2023   Japan   Mexico   United States   South Korea   Chinese Taipei
31 December 2023   Japan   Mexico   United States   South Korea   Chinese Taipei

The rankings of November 2023 saw a record 80 nations earning rankings.[5]

Best Movers edit

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
15 August 2023   Palestine   Ecuador   Indonesia   Norway   Afghanistan
5 October 2023    Switzerland   Greece   Sweden   Croatia   Ukraine
2 November 2023   Panama   Colombia   South Africa   Laos   El Salvador
18 December 2023   Pakistan   Palestine   Hong Kong   Costa Rica   Philippines
31 December 2023   Norway   Finland

Softball edit

Top 20 Rankings as of 26 April 2023[6]
Rank Change Team Points
1     Argentina 4224
2   2   Australia 3551
3     Japan 3451
4   2   Canada 3358
5     United States 2655
6     Czech Republic 2526
7     New Zealand 2280
8     Venezuela 2133
9     Cuba 1807
10     Mexico 1775
11     Denmark 1069
12   2   Singapore 994
13     Guatemala 934
14   2   South Africa 894
15     Philippines 623
16     Netherlands 412
17   4   Israel 339
18   1   Botswana 253
19   1   Dominican Republic 221
20   1   Chinese Taipei 192
*Change from 31 December 2022

Women's edit

Softball edit

Women's ranking leaders edit

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
12 April 2023   United States   Japan   Chinese Taipei   Puerto Rico   Canada
31 July 2023   United States   Japan   Puerto Rico   Canada   Chinese Taipei
10 November 2023   United States   Japan   Puerto Rico   Chinese Taipei   Canada
31 December 2023   United States   Japan   Puerto Rico   Chinese Taipei   Canada

Softball saw a ranking featuring 66 countries in November 2023.[7]

Best Movers edit

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
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

Baseball edit

Top 20 Rankings as of 22 September 2023[8]
Rank Change Team Points
1     Japan 970
2     Chinese Taipei 841
3   2   Venezuela 581
4     United States 510
5   7   Mexico 496
6   3   Puerto Rico 490
7   4   Hong Kong 451
8   5   Canada 428
9   1   South Korea 413
10   3   Cuba 350
11   3   Philippines 324
12   3   China 277
13   5   Australia 264
14   2   France 180
15   3   India 177
16   3   Pakistan 115
17     Indonesia 109
18   12   Dominican Republic 72
19     Thailand 68
20     Czech Republic 56
*Change from 31 December 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 edit

Baseball5 edit

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 16 November 2023[11]
Rank Change Team Points
1   1   France 3037
2   1   Chinese Taipei 2775
3     Cuba 2393
4     Tunisia 1995
5   5   Lithuania 1892
6   1   Japan 1639
7   1   South Africa 1593
8   1   Mexico 1560
9   1   South Korea 1442
10   1   Ghana 1219
11   5   Italy 1194
12   7   Netherlands 1179
13   2   Turkey 1144
14   2   Kenya 1046
15   2   China 1030
16   7   Belgium 952
17   3   Romania 905
17   3   Venezuela 905
19   2   Czech Republic 885
20   5   Malaysia 842
*Change from 18 October 2023

Calculation method edit

Men's baseball edit

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 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
Points 1150 940 880 820 760 700 640 580 520 460 400 340 280 220 160 100

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

See also edit

Notes and references edit

  1. ^ "The WBSC World Ranking". WBSC. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
  2. ^ "The WBSC Women's World Ranking". WBSC. 10 November 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  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. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
  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. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
  12. ^ "WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's". rankings.wbsc.org. WBSC. Retrieved 22 August 2019.

External links edit