15/08/2023 2 Minute Read

WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings: Japan stay at No. 1 after latest update

The WBSC published the update after the VII U-12 Baseball World Cup. Tournament winners USA remain in No. 2 position and Mexico No. 3. The WBSC rates 80 member Federations' baseball programmes.

PULLY, Switzerland — The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) today released the latest standings in the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings following the conclusion of the VII U-12 Baseball World Cup earlier this month.

The updated rankings includes points from the 2023 edition of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup and other men's baseball ranking tournaments dating back four years. The points from the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2019 have expired.

The WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup offers 345 points to the winner, 274 to the runner-up, 250 to the third-place finisher and so on until a minimum of 30 points is given to the 12th placed team.

Japan, who finished fourth in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup, remains at the top of the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings with 5,274 points.

The second and third placed men's baseball programmes also haven't changed with the United States confirming themselves in second with 4,654 points and Mexico following with 4,226 points. The WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2023 champions have reduced their gap to Japan from 921 to 620 points and widened their advantage over Mexico from 272 to 428 points.

Korea (4,025) climbed one step to fourth place and replace Chinese Taipei (3,991) who is now fifth. The other change in the top 10 is represented by the Netherlands (3,187), replacing Cuba (2,880) in seventh place.

Panama (2,196) climbed three steps into 11th place ahead of Italy (1,969), which currently fills the last spot in the World Rankings, which would advancing to the third WBSC Premier12. The Premier12 participating teams will feature the top 12 teams in the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings as at the end of 2023.

Puerto Rico (1,902) fell two places and is now 13th while Canada (1,692) dropped one spot to No. 14.

WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup participants Czechia (1,628) replaced Colombia (1593) in 15th place while Germany (1,100) climbed two steps and reached 17th spot.

The most significant improvement in the top 50 was recorded by New Zealand, up 11 places to No. 34 after finishing 12th in this month's U-12 World Cup. While world No. 48 El Salvador, No. 50 Costa Rica and Mariana Islands gained 11 places.

The WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings now rate 80 member Federation programmes with Singapore joining while Norway, Iran, Ghana and Nigeria saw their points from 2019 expire.

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Meanwhile, the WBSC Women's Baseball World Rankings will be updated following the completion of the WBSC Women's Baseball World Cup Group B, which will take place in Miyoshi City, Japan from 13-17 September.