MLB trying to ‘sort through’ if baseball players can participate in 2028 Olympics, says Rob Manfred

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred on Monday spoke to reporters at the Associated Press Sports Editors commissioners conference, and among the topics he addressed was MLB player participation in the Summer Olympics – specifically the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

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The challenges are obvious, as the Summer Olympics take place during the regular season, and the participation of MLB players would require some kind of schedule stoppage on the MLB side. This wasn’t an issue in the most recent Summer Olympics in Paris, as baseball was not part of the programming for those games. This is because baseball is not one of the recurring flagship sports of the summer games but rather falls under the category of “host’s prerogative.” Since baseball is not a particularly popular sport in France, the host nation did not choose it for the 2024 games. For the L.A. games, though, baseball and softball will be on the menu, and that means a tricky decision for MLB insofar as the participation of its players is concerned. On this matter, Manfred said: 

“Ongoing conversations with L.A. 28, you know. It’s a complicated issue for us, you know, lots of players would be involved, lots of major-league players because of the, you know, different countries that would likely be involved, massively disruptive to our season given the timing, and we’re trying to sort through all that, whether or not, you know, participation by Major League players becomes regular in the Olympics.

“We do see L.A. 28 as a, you know, real opportunity from a marketing perspective.”

There’s little clarity here, and indeed the messages are mixed. On the one hand, Manfred cites the “massively disruptive” timing of the Olympics, but soon after he nods toward the opportunity presented to grow the sport globally. Another consideration is that a number of big-name players – Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, and Shohei Ohtani, among others – have expressed varying degrees of support for getting MLB players into the Olympics. Their voices will no doubt be heard when it’s time to make a decision about 2028.

Those 2028 Games will mark the first time that baseball has been part of the programming since the 2020/2021 Olympics in Tokyo, when Team Japan won gold and USA took home silver. Baseball was an occasional presence in the Olympics starting in 1904, albeit as an unofficial, non-medal sport. Baseball at last became a medal sport at the 1992 Barcelona Games (Cuba won gold). Softball achieved the same status in 1996, and together the two sports were medal events through 2008. However, the two sports were left out of the London and Brazil Games in 2012 and 2016, respectively, before returning during the aforementioned Japan Games.

So we know baseball will return to the Olympics in 2028. What we don’t know is whether the best and most famous baseball players in the world will be a part of the action.