A WBSC update was published following the VII U-12 Baseball World Cup. Japan remains in No. 1 position and USA is No. 2
Following the conclusion of the VII U-12 Baseball World Cup earlier this month, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) released its latest Men's Baseball World Rankings.
Various men's baseball ranking tournaments dating back four years are included in the updated rankings, including the 2023 edition of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup. Points earned from the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2019 have expired.
There are 345 points awarded to the winner of the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup, 274 points awarded to the runner-up, 250 points awarded to the third place finisher, and so on until 30 points are awarded to the 12th place team.
With 5,274 points, Japan remains atop the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings after finishing fourth at the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup.
The second and third placed men's baseball teams also haven't changed, with the United States keeping their second place with 4,654 points and Mexico following with 4,226 points. The WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup 2023 champions have closed the gap on Japan from 921 to 620 points and increased their lead over Mexico from 272 to 428 points.
In fourth place, Korea (4,025) replaced Chinese Taipei (3,991). Another change among the top 10 is represented by the Netherlands (3,187), replacing Cuba (2,880).
Currently ranked 12th in the World Rankings, Panama (2,196) moved up three places to take over the 11th spot from Italy (1,969). Participating teams in the Premier12 will be the top 12 teams in the WBSC Men's Baseball World Rankings by the end of 2023.
Puerto Rico (1,902) fell two spots to 13th, while Canada (1,692) fell one spot to 14th.
Participants in the WBSC U-12 Baseball World Cup Czechia (1628) replaced Colombia (1593) in 15th place, while Germany (1100) moved up two places to reach 17th.
The most significant improvement in the top 50 came from New Zealand, which climbed 11 places to No. 34 after finishing 12th in the U-12 World Cup earlier this month. While El Salvador, No. 48 in the world, gained 11 places, Costa Rica, No. 50, and Mariana Islands, No. 51, gained 11 positions each.
Singapore has joined the rankings while Norway, Iran, Ghana and Nigeria had their points from 2019 expire.
You can find the complete list here: https://rankings.wbsc.org/en/list/baseball/men
