The World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has announced the following, following the results of the WBSC Premier 12 2024 (including other international competitions), which concluded in Tokyo last weekend in style. WBSC/KONAMI Men’s Baseball World Rankingsannounced the latest version. Chinese Taipei, ranked second in the world, was tied with Mexico with 4,118 points, but in the latest version, they now stand alone in second place, closing the gap with Japan in first place. Meanwhile, Venezuela in 3rd place and Panama in 8th place reached their highest ranking ever.
The WBSC/KONAMI men’s baseball world rankings include the addition of 57th place Sint Maarten and 80th place Cambodia, as well as the return of 70th place Indonesia and 77th place Malaysia (returning to the rankings for the first time in 10 years), for a total of 84 players. Countries and regions ranked in (the highest number of programs in 2021 was 85). Indonesia, Malaysia and Cambodia took 5th, 6th and 7th place respectively in the East Asia Cup, while Sint Maarten took 4th place in the 6th Caribbean Baseball Cup 2024.
The 4th WBSC Premier12 announced a new format and an increase in the number of participating teams, with two qualifiers in 2026 and the top 20 teams in the world participating. The announcement of this ranking marks the starting point of the race to the next global baseball battle. The top 12 teams in the WBSC/Konami Men’s Baseball World Rankings at the end of 2025 will have the right to directly participate in the 2027 group stage. Meanwhile, teams ranked 13th to 18th and the two wildcards will play in the Premier 12 Qualifier to determine the remaining four participants in the group stage.
Chinese Taipei defeated Japan in the WBSC Premier12 final, closing the gap on first place from 1,638 to 1,368 points. Chinese Taipei has earned 2,135 points in 2024, ranking second behind Japan, which earned 2,449 points this year.
Venezuela finished fourth in the Premier12, their best result in the tournament, moving up two places in the rankings and overtaking Mexico to become the world’s third-best country in history. The South American country has experienced rapid growth in recent years, breaking into the top three for the first time in its history. Since June 2021, Venezuela has jumped from 11th to 3rd place, and in 2024 alone it rose from 6th to 3rd in the world rankings. Their historic fourth place finish in the recently concluded Premier 12 was a boost.
Panama also moved up in the rankings, reaching their highest ever position after finishing fifth in their Premier12 debut. The Panama team overtook Puerto Rico in 9th place and Cuba in 10th place to become the 8th ranked country in the world.
The battle for an automatic spot in the Premier 12 and a place in the top 12 in 2025 will intensify. 11th place Dominican Republic and 12th place Australia re-entered the top 12, moving up one and three places respectively. Colombia, in 13th place, are just 35 points adrift of automatic qualification, followed by Italy in 14th place, 262 points behind Australia, and the Czech Republic in 12th place, 446 points behind.
With just 78 points separating the five teams, the battle for top 20 will be intense over the next 12 months to determine the final team to advance to the two qualifiers in 2026. Currently, 20th place China is at the bottom with 900 points, followed by 21st place France (888), 22nd place Canada (856), 23rd place Brazil (830), and 24th place Spain (822). It continues by a narrow margin.
