Baseball at the 2028 Summer Olympics
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Baseball will be featured at the 2028 Summer Olympics at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, for the first time since the 2020 Summer Olympics.[1] After not being featured at the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024, baseball/softball was approved as one of five optional sports for 2028.[2]
Los Angeles, California
| Baseball at the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad | |
|---|---|
| |
| Venue | Dodger Stadium Los Angeles, California |
| Dates | July 13–19, 2028 |
| No. of events | 1 |
| Competitors | 144 from 6 nations |
Qualification
Six national teams will qualify for the Olympic baseball tournament.
The United States automatically qualified, as the host nation. Two teams from the Americas, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, qualified through the 2026 World Baseball Classic in March 2026. Additionally, two teams will qualify through the 2027 WBSC Premier12 in November 2027, with one being the highest placed team from Asia and the other from either Europe or Oceania. The final team to qualify will be decided at the Final Qualifying Tournament, held no later than March 2028. The event will feature the top two unqualified teams from the Asian Baseball Championship, two teams from the European Men's Baseball Championship, one team from the Oceania Baseball Championship, and the winner of the Africa Cup Baseball Championship.[3][4][5]
| Event | Dates | Location(s) | Berth(s) | Qualified | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host nation | N/a | N/a | 1 |  United States | ||
| 2026 World Baseball Classic | Americas | March 5–17, 2026 | Miami[a] |
2 |  Dominican Republic Venezuela | |
| 2027 WBSC Premier12 | Asia | 2027 | TBD | 1 |  [b] | |
| Europe/Oceania | 1 | [c] | ||||
| Final Qualifying Tournament | No later than March 2028 | TBD | 1 | | ||
| Total | 6 | |||||
Competition schedule
Team squads
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred has publicly expressed interest in the idea of major league players participating in the Olympics, calling it "a unique opportunity to market the sport worldwide."[7] The 2028 competition taking place in July would somewhat align with the traditional time frame for the MLB All-Star break, in which no regular season games are played one day before through two days after the annual All-Star Game. It is likely that the break would be extended if MLB were to participate in the competition.[8]
Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball is expected to take a customary break, similar to the 2020 Olympics.[9]
Competition format
In the group stage teams will be broken into two groups of three. Each team will play two games. The top team from each group will advance automatically to the semifinals, while the remaining four teams will play in the quarterfinals for the final two semifinal spots.[6]
See also
Notes
- The World Baseball Classic was played in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Japan, with the final in Miami.
China, 
Chinese Taipei, 
Japan, and 
South Korea are eligible for qualification through this path.
Australia, the 
Czech Republic, 
Germany, 
Great Britain, 
Italy, the 
Netherlands, and 
Spain are eligible for qualification through this path.
