United States players hold up the championship trophy after defeating Puerto Rico in the final of the 2017 World Baseball Classic at Dodger Stadium. Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

MLB insider pushes 2028 Olympics boon: 'The NBA showed the way'

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Aug 10, 2024 8:25 PM ET

The success of watching NBA and WNBA players at the Olympic basketball tournaments is creating a push for professionals from a different sport to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

With baseball set to make its return for the 2028 Games, ESPN's Jeff Passan argued on Saturday that Major League Baseball needs to do everything it can to get its players into the game and provide baseball fans with the same excitement that basketball fans have been getting over the past two weeks.

The best athletes in the world performing at their apex is what the Olympics is all about. And it’s exactly why Major League Baseball needs to do all it can to get baseball back into the 2028 Games and allow big leaguers to participate. The NBA showed the way. MLB must follow.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) August 10, 2024

Baseball has recently tried to create a best-on-best international tournament with the World Baseball Classic and it has produced some extremely compelling moments. Getting that at the Olympics would simply be an even more exciting layer. And it could bring in more eyes than the WBC has.

Baseball was a regular event at the Summer Olympics right up through the 2008 games in Beijing, China, before going on hiatus for the 2012 and 2016 Games. It was brought back temporarily for the 2020 Games in Tokyo before going back on hiatus for the 2024 Paris Games.

Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said the league has discussed the idea of using major leaguers in the Olympics.

The main hurdle with doing this is a logistical one. Unlike the NBA, which is in its offseason during the Summer Olympics, Major League Baseball would be in the middle of its season and starting to get into peak pennant-race time when the Olympics happen. Using the league's players would require MLB to shut down for a minimum of two weeks to allow its players to participate. The WNBA and the NHL (which participated in the Olympics from 1998 through 2014 and is set to resume again in the 2026 Games) have both been willing to do that.

Whether or not MLB takes that pause remains to be seen, and that more than anything will dictate whether their players participate. Major league players have never participated in the Olympics in any of the games in which baseball was involved.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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