Top 10 World Baseball Classic Rankings 2023

Ranking the best baseball teams in the World Baseball Classic after Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic Championship

By admin | April 13, 2023

The 2023 World Baseball Classic has come and gone while leaving no baseball fan disappointed around the world. After kicking off on March 8th, 2023, the World Baseball Classic ran until the championship game wrapped up on March 21st, 2023.

After being delayed and pushed back due to Covid-19 in 2021 this year’s World Baseball Classic or WBC for short featured some of the best players around the world representing their countries.

As you start to look at the Top 10 WBC Teams 2023 rankings list, each team featured a loaded roster of talented stars with many taking the field as top stars in Major League Baseball.

Ultimately only one team could finish atop with Team Japan taking home the WBC Trophy after knocking off United States 3-2 in the Championship Game.

With two of the best players in the game of baseball and teammates squaring off with Shohei Ohtani representing Japan while teammate Mike Trout was the captain of Team USA.

Joining Japan and the United States among the best teams apart from the WBC includes Cuba, Mexico, Australia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. Here is a look at the Top 10 WBC World Rankings 2023 list.

Honorable Mention

Canada

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #12

Landing just outside of the Top 10 WBC Teams 2023 rankings list is Team Canada who was grouped in Pool C in the opening round of the World Baseball Classic. A group that featured both Mexico and the United States who both wound up in the Final Four of the WBC.

Team Canada was led by six-time MLB All-Star Freddie Freeman and two-time Gold Glove winner Tyler O’Neill. Canada opened up play with an 18-8 rout of Great Britain in a game that saw six different players collect at least two hits.

Unfortunately, Canada failed to build on that success, falling to the United States 12-1 before knocking off Colombia 5-0. With the team needing a win to move on Canada would fall to Mexico 10-3 but failed to move on posting a 2-2 record in Pool C play.

Korea

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #3

A second team that failed to advance past initial WBC Pool play was Korea who opened up play in Pool B in a field that featured Japan, Australia, Czech Republic, and China.

South Korea who were led by MLB stars Yu Darvish, Masataka Yoshida, and Lars Nootbaar while also featuring stars such as Eui-ji Yang as well as one of the best hitters of All Time in the KBO Jeong Choi.

A team loaded with talent Korea. Korea would drop back-to-back games to start pool play losing to Australia and Japan who both advanced from pool play. Despite dropping the first two games, Korea responded by knocking off Czech Republic 7-3 and China 22-2 to finish 2-2.

Ha-seong Kim would finish the WBC with a team high three home runs while Baekho Kang would lead the team with a team high seven hits to go with a .500 batting average.

Top 10 World Baseball Classic Rankings

10. Netherlands

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #8

Coming in at number 10 on the Top 10 WBC Teams 2023 rankings list is the Netherlands who finished tied among Pool A play with a 2-2 record. In what might have been the most competitive and well-balanced group of teams, each of the five teams finished with the same 2-2 record.

However, based on the tiebreaker of the fewest runs allowed divided by the defensive outs recorded the Netherlands finished just below Italy for the second spot.

Nonetheless the Netherlands were a talented team led by MLB stars Xander Bogaerts, Andrelton Simmons, Jonathan Schoop and Didi Gregorious. Unfortunately, the team struggled to hit, posting just a .224 mark over the teams four games with one double and four home runs.

9. Italy

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #17

One of three teams to land among the best teams at the World Baseball Classic, Italy who finished in a five-way tie with a 2-2 record in pool play moved on based on the results of the tiebreaker.

Italy finished ranked 3rd in Pool A in runs scored (20) while allowing the second fewest number of runs (17) over their four games.

Italy would knock off Cuba 4-1 in the team’s first contest before losing back-to-back games to Panama and Chinese Taipei before knocking off Netherlands to advance. Nicky Lopez carried the load for the team picking up nine hits to go along with seven runs batted in and a .474 batting average.

8. Dominican Republic

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #6

Entering the World Baseball Classic, the Dominican Republic had high hopes and a ton of expectations set forth built around a strong baseball roster.

A roster that featured a long list of talented baseball players including Manny Machado, Rafael Devers, Sandy Alcantara, and Wander Franco. Despite the talented roster, the Dominican Republic landed in an extremely difficult Pool D group that featured Venezuela and Puerto Rico.

Despite knocking off both Israel and Nicaragua during pool play, the team failed to pick up a needed win against either Puerto Rico or Venezuela finishing play with a 2-2 record despite allowing just 11 runs over four games. Jeimer Candelario finished play picking up six hits in 12 at bats while leading the club with a .500 batting average.

7. Australia

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #10

One of the more impressive teams of the 2023 World Baseball Classic was Australia who put on a show to move past pool play after posting a 3-1 record in Pool B.

A pool that featured the eventual WBC Champions Japan and a talented Korea team. Australia rolled to back-to-back wins over Korea and China before dropping a 7-1 game to Japan before knocking off Czech Republic to move onto the knockout stage.

Australia would come up short falling to Cuba 4-3 in a hard-fought game to the finish. Australia was led by Robbi Glendinning who finished with two home runs and six runs batted in and Rixon Wingrove who finished with a team high seven runs batted in.

6. Puerto Rico

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #16

As you start to look at the top six teams in the World Baseball Classic each are well deserving of a spot near the top of the rankings.

This includes Puerto Rico who was as talented as any team within the WBC finished pool play in Pool D 3-1 with their only loss coming to Venezuela who finished pool play with a 4-0 record.

A team loaded with talented stars including Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor, Eddie Rosario, Edwin Diaz, and Jose Berrios. Their talented lineup finished tied for 6th in runs batted in with 31 runs over five games while posting a .280 batting average. Baez led the team with six runs batted in to go with seven hits including three doubles and one home run.

5. Venezuela

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #7

Rounding out the Top 5 on the Top 10 WBC Teams 2023 rankings list is Venezuela who was one of two teams to finish pool play undefeated (other team Japan). During the team’s four wins Venezuela allowed just nine runs over four games while scoring 23 runs.

A team built around some of Major League Baseball top stars including Salvador Perez, Jose Altuve, Gleyber Torres, Ronald Acuna, and future Hall of Famer Miguel Cabrera.

Despite their strong start Venezuela failed to slow down the United States in the Knockout Bracket losing 9-7 in a dramatic game that came down to the wire. Luis Arraez led the team with two home runs while Luis Garcia threw seven innings for the team pitching to a 2.57 earned run average.

4. Cuba

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #9

Over the years Cuba has been known to produce a long list of talented baseball players with some finding ways to defect to play Major League Baseball.

Built around a strong tradition of baseball Cuba continues to rank among the best teams in all of baseball. That was showcased during the 2023 WBC as the team reached the semi-finals before being knocked out by the United States.

Cuba finished the WBC ranked 3rd among all teams with a .311 team average while driving in 31 runs. Headlining the team’s performance includes Yoan Moncado who finished tied among the WBC lead with 10 hits including four doubles and one home run. On the mound Miguel Romero appeared in five games picking up two wins while posting a 2.08 earned run average.

3. Mexico

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #4

Entering the World Baseball Classic in 2023, Mexico was a team that was often overlooked while some of the other top teams received most of the attention.

Despite going under the radar leading into the WBC, Mexico shined all tournament posting a 3-1 record while handing the United States their only loss while their only loss came in their open round matchup to Colombia.

Mexico, who was led by a long list of talented stars including Randy Arozarena, Taijuan Walker, and Patrick Sandoval moved to the bracket play where the team would knock off a talented Puerto Rico team to advance to the semi-finals against Japan.

Mexico pitched to the 5th lowest earned run average during the tournament (3.83) while their offense tied for 3rd with 37 runs batted in. Joey Meneses carried the offensive load tying for the WBC in hits with 10 while also adding two home runs and six runs batted in.

2. United States

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #5

Coming up just short of picking up their second straight World Baseball Classic championship it is easy to slide the United States into the second spot.

A team loaded with talent including team captain Mike Trout and a long list of MLB All-Stars including Trea Turner, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Mookie Betts, Adam Wainwright, and J.T. Realmuto.

The loaded United States would go 3-1 in pool play with their only loss coming to Mexico. Using a late inning grand slam off the bat of Trea Turner the United States would advance to the semi-finals where the team knocked off Cuba to advance to their showdown against Japan.

In the end the United States came up a run short falling to the Japan 3-2. Turner finished the WBC with a tournament high five home runs to go along with 11 runs batted in.

1. Japan

WBSC Ranking Prior to WBC: #1

In at number one on the Top 10 WBC Teams 2023 rankings list is Japan who posted their 3rd World Baseball Classic Championship after knocking off United States 3-2 in the Championship Game.

Led by the talented Shohei Ohtani, Japan was difficult to score against allowing just eight runs over their four games in pool play helping the team post a 4-0 record in Pool B while moving on to bracket play.

Japan would knock off Italy in the quarterfinals, Mexico in the semifinals and the United States in the championship game. A game that featured talented MLB teammates Ohtani and Trout squaring off with Ohtani striking out Trout to end the game.

Ohtani would take home the WBC MVP Award after picking up 10 hits, eight runs batted in at the plate to go along with 2 twins, one save and a 1.86 earned run average over 9.2 innings of work on the mound.