WBSC Baseball World Rankings: Japan remains as world No 1 men's baseball team

According to the last list of the international association, Cuba ascended one place

Image: Mark Duffel

World No. 2 Chinese Taipei and No. 3 USA complete the podium. The end-of-the-year rankings reflect the addition of points gathered in 2022 and the expiration of all points earned in 2018.

The WBSC revealed the end-of-the-year World Rankings for Men's Baseball today with Japan leading the way - a position it has held since 2014 - with 4,179 points on top of 81 baseball teams.

The WBSC Baseball World Rankings measure National Team performance, from U-12 to the top level, in WBSC-sanctioned international competitions over a four-year period. The end-of-the-year rankings reflect the expiration of all points earned in 2018.

Men's Baseball World Rankings in detail

Japan and world No. 2 Chinese Taipei (3,819 points) retained their positions in the World Rankings while the United States became the baseball team that improved the most among the top 10 - thanks to its title triumphs at the WBSC U-12, U-15, and U-18 Baseball World Cups this year - moving from fifth to third position on 3,449 points. Korea and Mexico both lost a position and rank now fourth and fifth respectively, followed by Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Cuba. The three teams all earned one place.

The Cuban team appears with a total of 2,246 points, followed by its counterparts from the Dominican Republic (1,894) and Australia (1,889), the first dropping three places, the highest figure among the Top-10 on the list.

At No. 7, the Netherlands leads the European teams.

The Dominican Republic lost three positions and is now at No. 9 while Australia remained stable in the 10th spot.

Positions from 11 to 20 are split between American and European teams. Puerto Rico, now at No. 13, gained three places and became the most improved of the baseball teams in this area of the rankings. No. 14 Canada and No. 17 Nicaragua both lost two positions.

Amongst the top 59 baseball teams, Curaçao and Bulgaria made the highest gains moving up 11 places to 33rd and 57th respectively while the biggest movers were the Mariana Islands and the Bahamas who moved up 18 and 16 places to 60th and 64th respectively.