The success of NBA and WNBA players in the Olympic basketball tournaments is leading to plans to include professionals from other sports in the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
With baseball games expected to return in 2028, ESPN’s Jeff Passan argued Saturday that Major League Baseball must do everything it can to keep its players excited about the game and provide baseball fans with the same excitement they’ve seen basketball fans experience over the past two weeks.
Baseball recently tried to create a top international tournament with the World Baseball Classic, and it has produced some very exciting moments. To have that at the Olympics would be even more exciting. And it could draw more attention than the WBC.
Baseball was a regular discipline at the Summer Olympics until the 2008 Games in Beijing, China, before taking a break for the 2012 and 2016 Games. It temporarily resumed for the 2020 Games in Tokyo before taking another break for the 2024 Games in Paris.
Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said the league had discussed the idea of using major league players in the Olympics.
The biggest obstacle to doing this is logistical. Unlike the NBA, which is in its off-season during the Summer Olympics, Major League Baseball would be in the middle of its season and moving toward its prime championship race season during the Olympics. To use the league’s players, MLB would have to shut down for at least two weeks to allow its players to participate. The WNBA and the NHL (which participated in the Olympics from 1998 to 2014 and will resume at the 2026 Games) were both willing to do this.
Whether MLB will take that break remains to be seen, and it will largely depend on whether its players participate. Major league players have never competed in an Olympic Games that involved baseball.
