Baseball appears set to return to the Olympics for the 2020 Tokyo Games, but some major leaguers expressed reservations.
“It’s not going to happen. I don’t think it’s fathomable,” Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw said.
Baseball became a medal sport for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, but was dropped for the 2012 London Games and will not be played this year in Rio de Janeiro.
Photo: AP
With the 2020 Games in Japan, where baseball is popular, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board voted this week to support a six-nation tournament that year in both baseball and women’s softball.
Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant said he was torn.
“I wore USA across my chest one time in college and it was an awesome experience,” he said. “It’d be fun to do that again, but baseball season’s so long the way it is. You play 162 games and to add another two weeks, I don’t know if it would be the best decision for ourselves and our bodies.”
Because the 2020 Games are from July 24 to Aug. 9, Major League Baseball would have to interrupt its schedule, a 183-day grind that has little flexibility unless owners and the players’ association are willing to cut games and lose revenue.
“I will not comment until I have a chance to review the recommendation,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said on Thursday.
There is the problem of inactivity for players who do not go to Japan during an Olympic break.
“It depends on if the players not playing with those national teams would be OK with it; having those two weeks off,” said Minnesota outfielder Max Kepler, who has played for Germany. “They’d probably be a little rusty from all that.”
Baltimore’s Adam Jones said there are just too many obstacles for major leaguers to participate.
“I think it would have to be Triple-A guys,” he said.
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