LAUSANNE — Japan closed out 2025 as the world’s top-ranked men’s baseball nation, finishing first in the WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking released as of Dec. 31.
Japan led the rankings with 6,676 points, followed by Premier12 champions Chinese Taipei with 5,112 points and the United States in third place with 4,357. South Korea (4,192) and Venezuela (3,653) rounded out the top five in a list that includes 85 national programs across the five Olympic continents.
From a European perspective, the Netherlands was the only team inside the top 10 to register an improvement in the final update of the year. The Dutch climbed one spot to ninth place with 2,690 points, while Cuba slipped one position to 10th with 2,622 points. No other changes were recorded among the top 10.
For Curaçao, the year-end update brought a drop in the standings. The Caribbean program fell three places and finished 29th with 252 points. While Curaçao remains competitive internationally, the movement reflects how tight the rankings are outside the top tier.
The WBSC rankings are calculated using results from international tournaments over a rolling four-year period, combining recent competitions with longer-term performance. That system often limits movement at the top while producing more volatility among teams in the middle of the table.
Outside the top 20, several programs posted modest gains. Spain moved up to 26th, Austria to 27th, and Hong Kong, China to 28th, each rising one position. Thailand also climbed one place to finish 30th.
Peru recorded the biggest jump in the latest update, gaining 16 positions to reach 31st, the largest improvement since the previous rankings update in November.
The final rankings of 2025 underline Japan’s continued dominance in men’s baseball, incremental progress for the Netherlands among the sport’s elite, and renewed challenges for Curaçao as it looks ahead to the next international cycle.