WBSC World Rankings

The WBSC World Rankings is a ranking system for national teams in baseball and softball. 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 as of August 2021
Men's baseball[1]
RankChangeTeamPoints
1 Japan4290
2 1 South Korea3423
3 1 Chinese Taipei3315
4 United States3077
5 Mexico2270
6 1 Dominican Republic2063
7 1 Australia1946
8 1 Netherlands1740
9 1 Canada1713
10 Venezuela1619
11 Cuba1607
12 2 Puerto Rico1073
13 Panama926
14 2 Nicaragua923
15 Colombia916
16 Czech Republic776
17 Italy759
18 2 Germany585
19 2 Spain572
20 1 China546
Women's softball[2]
RankChangeTeamPoints
1 1 Japan3362
2 1 United States3342
3 Canada2990
4 1Mexico2488
5 1 Puerto Rico2322
6 Chinese Taipei2128
7 China1823
8 Italy1730
9 1 Australia1631
10 1 Netherlands1471
11 4 Venezuela1064
12 Philippines1016
13 2 Czech Republic1012
14 Brazil925
15 2 Great Britain753
16 1 New Zealand704
17 South Korea625
18 10 Cuba554
19 1 Spain542
20 1 France524

Four rankings are published by the WBSC, they are: Men's Baseball, Women's Baseball, Women's Softball, and Men's Softball.

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.[3] 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 four
Date First Second Third Fourth
31 December 2012  Cuba  United States  Japan  South Korea
31 December 2014  Japan  United States  Cuba  Chinese Taipei
31 December 2016  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei
25 September 2018  United States  Japan  South Korea  Cuba
17 December 2018  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei
31 December 2019  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei
18 March 2020  Japan  United States  South Korea  Chinese Taipei
28 June 2021  Japan  Chinese Taipei  South Korea  United States
11 August 2021  Japan  South Korea  Chinese Taipei  United States

The latest rankings of March 2020 saw a record 86 nations earning rankings.[4]

Best Movers
Top four movers per ranking
Date First Second Third Fourth
31 December 2014  Israel  Curaçao  Iran  Slovenia
31 December 2016  Guatemala  Slovakia  Sweden  Poland
25 September 2018  Israel  Indonesia  El Salvador  Sri Lanka
17 December 2018  Curaçao  U.S. Virgin Islands  Aruba  South Africa
31 December 2019  American Samoa  Guam  Greece  Great Britain
18 March 2020  Guam  El Salvador  New Zealand  Honduras
28 June 2021   Switzerland  Honduras  Indonesia  Aruba
11 August 2021  Slovenia  Ireland  Croatia  Uganda

Softball
Men's Softball Rankings as of 28 June 2021 [5]
RankTeamPoints
1  Japan3737
2  Argentina3731
3  Australia3244
4  New Zealand3215
5  Canada2957
6  Czech Republic2748
7  United States2508
8  Mexico1682
9  Venezuela1608
10  Denmark1471

Women's

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

Softball saw a ranking featuring 69 countries in March 2020.[2]

Best Movers
Top four movers per ranking
Date First Second Third Fourth
17 December 2018  South Africa  Ireland  India  Mexico
31 December 2019  Belgium  Germany  Poland  Spain
28 June 2021  South Korea  Dominican Republic  South Africa  Poland
11 August 2021  Cuba  Indonesia  Hong Kong  Botswana

Baseball
Women's Baseball Rankings as of 28 June 2021 [5]
RankTeamPoints
1 Japan1355
2 Chinese Taipei1097
3 Canada1029
4 United States1015
5 Venezuela900
6 Dominican Republic717
7 Cuba520
8 Australia509
9 Puerto Rico371
10 South Korea364

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.[6]

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.[7]

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.[8]

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. "WBSC Rankings – Men's baseball". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  2. "WBSC Rankings – Women's softball". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  3. "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.
  4. "Record 86 nations featured in March 2020 WBSC Baseball World Rankings". wbsc.org. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  5. "WBSC Rankings | WBSC". www.wbsc.org. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
  6. "ABOUT THE WORLD BASEBALL SOFTBALL CONFEDERATION". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  7. "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.
  8. "WBSC Rankings - Baseball Men's". rankings.wbsc.org. WBSC. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
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