WBSC World Rankings explained

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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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
31 December 2014
31 December 2016
25 September 2018
17 December 2018
31 December 2019
18 March 2020
28 June 2021
11 August 2021
31 December 2021
31 December 2022
28 March 2023
15 August 2023
5 October 2023
2 November 2023
18 December 2023
31 December 2023

The rankings of November 2023 saw a record 80 nations earning rankings.^[3]

Best Movers

Top five movers per ranking
Date	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth
31 December 2014
31 December 2016
25 September 2018
17 December 2018
31 December 2019
18 March 2020
28 June 2021
11 August 2021
31 December 2021
31 December 2022
28 March 2023
15 August 2023
5 October 2023
2 November 2023
18 December 2023
31 December 2023

Softball

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
17 December 2018
31 December 2019
1 January 2020
28 June 2021
11 August 2021
31 December 2021
31 December 2022
12 April 2023
31 July 2023
10 November 2023
31 December 2023

Softball saw a ranking featuring 66 countries in November 2023.^[4]

Best Movers

Top five movers per ranking
Date	First	Second	Third	Fourth	Fifth
17 December 2018
31 December 2019
28 June 2021
11 August 2021
31 December 2021
31 December 2022
12 April 2023
31 July 2023
10 November 2023
31 December 2023

Baseball

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.^[5]

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.^[6]

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.^[7]

Premier 12

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	1380	width=20	1102	width=20	1004	width=20	906	width=20	808	width=20	710	width=20	612	width=20	514	width=20	416	width=20	318	width=20	220	width=20	122

World Baseball Classic

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12	width=20	13	width=20	14	width=20	15	width=20	16
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	1150	width=20	940	width=20	880	width=20	820	width=20	760	width=20	700	width=20	640	width=20	580	width=20	520	width=20	460	width=20	400	width=20	340	width=20	280	width=20	220	width=20	160	width=20	100

U-23 Baseball World Cup

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	690	width=20	551	width=20	502	width=20	453	width=20	404	width=20	355	width=20	306	width=20	257	width=20	208	width=20	159	width=20	110	width=20	61

U-18 Baseball World Cup

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	575	width=20	459	width=20	418	width=20	377	width=20	336	width=20	295	width=20	254	width=20	213	width=20	172	width=20	131	width=20	90	width=20	49

U-15 Baseball World Cup

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	460	width=20	367	width=20	334	width=20	301	width=20	268	width=20	235	width=20	202	width=20	169	width=20	136	width=20	103	width=20	70	width=20	37

U-12 Baseball World Cup

align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Final rank	width=20	1	width=20	2	width=20	3	width=20	4	width=20	5	width=20	6	width=20	7	width=20	8	width=20	9	width=20	10	width=20	11	width=20	12
align=left bgcolor=#efefef	Points	width=20	345	width=20	275	width=20	250	width=20	225	width=20	200	width=20	175	width=20	150	width=20	125	width=20	100	width=20	75	width=20	50	width=20	25

External links

WBSC rankings

Notes and References

Web site: WBSC launches first-ever Baseball5 World Rankings . 2023-01-15 . World Baseball Softball Confederation . en.
News: WBSC launches first-ever Softball World Rankings: Japan Women's No. 1, New Zealand Men's No. 1. 29 March 2016. Mister Baseball. March 22, 2016.
Web site: Record 86 nations featured in March 2020 WBSC Baseball World Rankings . wbsc.org . 18 March 2020.
Web site: WBSC Rankings – Women's softball . . 20 January 2022.
Web site: ABOUT THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION. World Baseball Softball Confederation. 6 November 2015.
Web site: IBAF Releases First-Ever Women's World Rankings . 13 August 2009 . 13 August 2009 . International Baseball Federation . https://www.webcitation.org/5sBX8m4lp?url=http://www.ibaf.org/en/article-detail.aspx?id=7cdb8cdb-525d-4501-8f40-2d59622392e6 . 23 August 2010 . live . dmy-all .
Web site: WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's . rankings.wbsc.org . WBSC . 22 August 2019.