The latest update to the WBSC men’s baseball world rankings has been published, with a whopping 15 countries in WBSC Europe changing positions. None of the top 16 nations changed places, including the three highest-rated teams from Europe. The current European Top Five are the Netherlands (No. 10 overall), Italy (No. 14), Czech Republic (No. 15), Germany (No. 18), and Great Britain (No. 19). The biggest European baseball risers are Lithuania (up 13 places to No. 41), Croatia (up four places to No. 33), and Switzerland (up two to No. 34).
The top 12 programmes in the WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking at the end of 2025 will earn a direct ticket to the Premier12 2027, while programmes ranked 13th to 18th, along with two Wild Cards, will contest the Premier12 Qualifiers for the final four spots. Crucially, Germany’s defeat of Great Britain in the fifth-place game at the recently concluded European Baseball Championship had enormous ramifications, as the two nations traded places on the margins of automatic qualification to the Premier12.
The ranking points earned by any national team remain in the World Ranking for exactly four years, which means that the points taken into account are the ones related to events that took place in the current plus the past three years. In principle, one edition of any event must always be present in the World Rankings of the respective discipline within this four-year cycle. However, if an event is staged within four calendar years of the previous edition, the points from the immediately previous edition will be removed from the ranking as soon as the next edition is played. This does not apply to the World Baseball Classic, Premier12, or World Cups, but does apply to contintal and lower international tournaments.
By Gabriel Fidler, Managing Editor.