MLB interested in players participating in LA Olympics, but Games' baseball schedule puts league in July bind

Yahoo

20 hours ago

With the 2028 Olympics taking place in Los Angeles, Major League Baseball is interested in its players participating rather than giving way to amateurs like they've previously done.
But the LA Olympics baseball schedule puts MLB in a July 2028 bind.
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Baseball, which has not been included in three of the past four Summer Olympics, is scheduled for July 15-20 during the 2028 iteration of the Games, and Dodger Stadium will host, as announced Monday by LA28, the competition's organizing body.
Mid-July, of course, is typically when MLB holds its annual All-Star Game. A host city hasn't been announced for the 2028 All-Star Game and its festivities, and neither have corresponding dates, but a potential scheduling conflict is already apparent.
If the 2028 All-Star Game follows the cadence of past midsummer classics, it could land right before the Olympic opening ceremony on July 14, as reported by The Athletic's Evan Drellich. In other words, an extended All-Star break could cause a longer pause in the 2028 MLB regular season than the league prefers.
"They put out a schedule, they tell you it's not going to move," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday before this year's All-Star Game, via The Athletic. "We'll see whether there's any movement on that. … It is an opportunity to market the game on a really global stage. We're trying to iron through those logistics."
MLB met with Los Angeles organizers Monday in Atlanta ahead of this year's All-Star Game, according to The Associated Press, which also reported that Manfred said Olympic officials were meeting with the MLBPA.
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"There's a lot of work that still needs to be done," MLBPA Executive Director Tony Clark told the Baseball Writers' Association of America in a separate interview, per the AP.
"We do know players are interested in playing, whether it's for the Team USA or any number of other teams around the world. ... There's just a lot of conversation that needs to be had sooner rather than later to see how viable this is, but we're hopeful that we can figure our way through it for the benefit of the game."
Manfred mentioned that MLB clubs are going to have to "endorse" their players taking part in the 2028 Olympics.
"I mean, it's a big deal," he said, according to the AP.
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The last time the Summer Olympics included baseball was in 2021 when Tokyo hosted the Games. MLB didn't permit players on 40-man rosters to participate. Meanwhile, Nippon Professional Baseball — Japan's top professional baseball league — halted play, and Japan defeated USA 2-0 in the gold medal game.
Both The Athletic and the AP reported that Manfred said a single, extended All-Star break that allows for Olympic participation while still fitting in a 162-game regular-season and a postseason that doesn't go too deep into November is possible.
He added, however, that such a plan would "require significant accommodations."
Of those accommodations, potential changes to television contracts could be in order, as the league has to consider Fox's All-Star Game broadcasting rights.