Japan (5,797 points), Mexico (4,764) and the United States (4,492) retain their spots on the podium of the WBSC/Konami Men's Baseball World Ranking.
The end-of-year update doesn't show major changes with the ranking published on 18 December where the top 12 programmes were confirmed to participate in the III WBSC Premier12, scheduled from 10-24 November next year.
World No. 1 Japan led all nations in 2023, earning 2,428 points followed by Mexico (1,791) and USA (1,735) in second and third place respectively.
Mexico is the only programme in the top 10 to improve on their ranking during the year climbing three positions from fifth to second.
Chinese Taipei closed 2023 as World No. 5, losing three positions on their 2022 ranking while Australia lost one spot over the year to drop from 10th to 11th.
In the top 20, No.18 Great Britain became the most improved, climbing four positions. No. 10 Panama and No. 14 Italy earned two places while No. 18 Germany and No. 19 Israel climbed one spot.
Costa Rica is the most improved programme overall. They climbed 22 positions to reach No. 54. Hong Kong earned 21 positions to move up to No. 32. The Philippines also gained 12 places to move to No. 28, their highest ranking since 2015.
The points calculation includes results of international tournaments over a four year period.
On 18 December, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) and Konami Digital Entertainment Inc. (KONAMI) extended their global partnership to incorporate the WBSC World Rankings naming rights.
The WBSC/KONAMI Men's Baseball World Ranking were first published in 2009. At the time, the world of international baseball had an undisputed No. 1 in Cuba. The United States followed in second place, with Korea third, Japan fourth and Chinese Taipei fifth.
