WBSC World Rankings: American Samoa, Indonesia, Kenya amongst best improvers of 2025

While traditional Baseball/Softball powerhouses Japan, USA, Cuba finished 2025 on top of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Rankings in Baseball (Men and Women), Softball (Men and Women) and Baseball5, some new names lead the way when reviewing the biggest movers in terms of points collected or positions gained over the year.  

In Men’s Baseball, while Japan (1071), USA (994) and Chinese Taipei (946) recorded the highest number of points in the year, it was Indonesia who improved the most based on world ranking position, up 17 places to No. 54, followed by Costa Rica and Honduras -both up 14 positions to No. 39 and 44 respectively, while No. 31 Peru climbed 13 positions to No. 31.

In Women's Baseball, Great Britain climbed 15 positions to end the year in 15th place while No. 11 Indonesia gained five spots and earned the most points (224), followed by No. 5 Venezuela (200)

In Men's Softball, Thailand climbed nine positions to No. 27 followed by Nicaragua and Belize, up seven places to No. 31 and No. 37 respectively while No. 2 Venezuela (1,318) earned the most points, followed by No. 5 USA (1,064) and No. 1 Japan (1,019).

Women’s Softball saw American Samoa participated in its first WBSC World Cup and climb 22 spots accordingly to No. 42 in the Women's Softball World Ranking to end the year the highest climber across the five rankings. No. 22 Singapore moved up 17 positions while American Virgin Islands improved 15 positions to No. 43. No. 17 Brazil and No. 37 El Salvador both gained 10 positions.

When looking at the most number of points again in Women’s Softball during 2025, No. 1 Japan (1,413) led the way followed by No. 2 USA (1,267) and No. 4 Canada (1,058).

In Baseball5, Puerto Rico finished as the top climber, gaining 16 positions and reaching No. 30 in the world ranking. No. 37 Saudi Arabia climbed 15 spots while Thailand gained 18 positions to finish the year in No. 18.

No. 9 Kenya (1,508) earned the most points of the year not only in Baseball5 but across all five world rankings, followed by No. 5 Tunisia (1,361) and No. 4 Chinese Taipei (1,271).