This post was originally published on this site
With just under 100 days left in the year, the race to qualify for the WBSC Premier12™ 2027 is heating up following today’s release of the latest WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking, updated after the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2025 presented by RAXUS in Okinawa, Japan.
Starting in 2027, the WBSC Premier12 will expand to feature 16 teams. The top 12 programs in the WBSC Men’s Baseball World Ranking at the end of 2025 will earn a direct ticket to the Premier12 2027, while teams ranked 13th to 18th, along with two Wild Cards, will contest the Premier12 Qualifiers for the final four spots.
The newest rankings show some notable shifts within the top 10, though the lineup of the top 12 remains unchanged. Venezuela and Panama each climbed one place, moving up to No. 5 and No. 8 respectively. Cuba made the biggest leap, overtaking the Netherlands (No. 10), Australia (No. 11) and the Dominican Republic (No. 12) to reclaim a spot in the top 10 as the new No. 9.
The contest is tightening in the race for direct qualification. The Dominican Republic (No. 12) holds the final Group Stage berth, with Colombia (No. 13) 327 points behind. Further down, Italy (No. 14), Czechia (No. 15) and Nicaragua (No. 16) remain solidly in Qualifier positions. The race for the 18th and final Qualifier spot is particularly close: Great Britain (No. 17, 1,062 points), Germany (No. 18, 1,029) and China (No. 19, 979) are separated by just 83 points.
This ranking update also reflects the expiration of points from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, which remained in the standings for four years, and the replacement of the points from the WBSC U-18 Baseball World Cup 2022 results, with the latest edition having been played this month in Okinawa.
