Top 20 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), 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).
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 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. 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.
Men's Baseball Men's ranking leaders WBSC World Men's Ranking Leaders
+ Teams ranking in the top fiveDate First Second Third Fourth Fifth31 December 201231 December 201431 December 201625 September 201817 December 201831 December 201918 March 202028 June 202111 August 202131 December 202131 December 202228 March 202315 August 20235 October 20232 November 202318 December 202331 December 20233 September 202418 September 202427 November 202431 December 202423 July 20255 August 202519 September 202511 November 202531 December 202526 March 2026
The November 2023 rankings included 80. This increased to 83 at the end of 2025.
Best Movers + Top five movers per rankingDateFirstSecondThirdFourthFifth31 December 201431 December 201625 September 201817 December 201831 December 201918 March 202028 June 202111 August 202131 December 202131 December 202228 March 202315 August 20235 October 20232 November 202318 December 202331 December 2023colspan="3" 9 March 2024Tied18 September 2024 Tied27 November 2024 Tied11 November 2025 Tied31 December 2025
Softball
Women's Softball Women's ranking leaders WBSC World Women's Ranking Leaders + Teams ranking in the top fiveDate First Second Third Fourth Fifth31 December 201617 December 201831 December 20191 January 202028 June 202111 August 202131 December 202131 December 202212 April 202331 July 202310 November 202331 December 202330 March 202423 July 202411 September 202431 December 202423 July 202526 August 20259 October 202531 December 2025 The WBSC ranked 65 countries in softball in 2024 and 70 in 2025.
Best Movers
+ Top five movers per rankingDateFirstSecondThirdFourthFifth17 December 201831 December 201928 June 202111 August 202131 December 202131 December 202212 April 202331 July 202310 November 202331 December 202331 December 2024
Baseball
Japan has ranked #1 in every women's baseball ranking since 2011.
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.
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. As of 2025, all WBSC rankings use a four-year cycle.
Coed
Baseball5 Baseball5 is a mixed-gender sport, with each team of 5 active players having at least 2 players of either gender.
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. These rankings were adjusted in 2025.
Premier12 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 17 18 19 20 Points 1150 953 905 858811763716668621574526479432384337289242195147100 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
Controversies Criticism of the WBSC World Ranking focus on how the rankings are calculated and how each countries' strengths are often misrepresented.
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. 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.
Additionally, the current rankings system includes junior competitions, such as the U-12 Baseball World Cup. 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
Notes and references
External links WBSC rankings