Baseball Preview
Baseball returns to the Olympic program in Tokyo for the first time since Beijing 2008. The sport had previously been part of the program since 1992. In total, baseball has been on the official Olympic program at six Games (with Tokyo 2020 being the seventh) and has been contested as a demonstration sport at an additional seven Games.
Team USA will look to win its second Olympic gold medal in baseball, having won gold at Sydney 2000. In the last edition of baseball at the Games in 2008, the U.S. won the bronze medal. Falling to Cuba in the semifinals, the U.S. team bounced back to claim a decisive 8-4 victory against Japan to secure third place in the tournament. Combined with a bronze medal from 1996, the U.S. has earned three official medals in baseball at the Olympic Games, second only to Cuba in the sport’s medal chart. Though still only a demonstration sport at the time, the U.S. also unofficially earned second in Los Angeles in 1984 and first in Seoul in 1988.
The U.S. hopes to continue this story of success in Tokyo after clinching Olympic qualification by winning the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier on June 5. The No. 2 ranked team in the world, the U.S. won all of its games in the eight-team tournament while utilizing a roster of minor league prospects and veterans not currently on a MLB 40-man roster. Team USA became the fifth team to qualify for the Games, joining host Japan, Israel, Mexico and South Korea. The tournament will take place outside of Tokyo in Yokohama and Fukushima.
Updated on July 13, 2021. For more information, contact the sport press officer here.