WBSC Baseball World Rankings

The WBSC Baseball World Rankings were first established by the International Baseball Federation (the predecessor to the World Baseball Softball Confederation) as a way of comparing the top countries in the baseball world based off their performance in international competitions. The events that are considered and the weight given to each event has changed over the years as the formula is revised and old competitions are eliminated (ex. Baseball World Cup, Olympics, Intercontinental Cup) and new ones are added (ex. Premier 12). The events are counted for a number of years so that one year's or one event's dominant performance doesn't have undue effects. They had their first practical usage in 2015 when they were used to pick the teams for the initial Premier 12.