Baseball was featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics. Six national teams competed in the tournament: Israel, Japan (host), Mexico, South Korea, the United States, and the Dominican Republic.
Baseball/softball was one of five optional sports that were added to the programme of the 2020 Summer Olympics. It did not return in 2024 for the Paris Summer Olympics. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the games were played behind closed doors.
The medals for the competition were presented by Yasuhiro Yamashita, IOC Member and Olympic Champion from Japan, and the medalists' bouquets were presented by Riccardo Fraccari, WBSC President, Italy.
Medalists Men's tournamentKōyō AoyagiSuguru IwazakiMasato MorishitaHiromi ItohYoshinobu YamamotoMasahiro TanakaYasuaki YamasakiRyoji KuribayashiYūdai ŌnoKodai SengaKaima TairaRyutaro UmenoTakuya KaiTetsuto YamadaSōsuke GendaHideto AsamuraRyosuke KikuchiHayato SakamotoMunetaka MurakamiKensuke KondoYuki YanagitaRyoya KuriharaMasataka YoshidaSeiya SuzukiShane BazAnthony CarterBrandon DicksonAnthony GoseEdwin JacksonScott KazmirNick MartinezScott McGoughDavid RobertsonJoe RyanRyder RyanSimeon Woods RichardsonTim FederowiczMark KolozsvaryNick AllenEddy AlvarezTriston CasasTodd FrazierJamie WestbrookTyler AustinEric FiliaPatrick KivlehanJack LópezBubba StarlingDarío ÁlvarezGabriel AriasJairo AsencioLuis Felipe CastilloJumbo DíazJunior GarcíaJhan MariñezCristopher MercedesDenyi ReyesRamón RossoÁngel SánchezRaúl ValdésRoldani BaldwinCharlie ValerioJosé BautistaJuan FranciscoJeison GuzmánErick MejiaGustavo NúñezEmilio BonifácioMelky CabreraJohan MiesesYefri PérezJulio Rodríguez
Qualification
Six national teams qualified for the Olympic baseball tournament. Japan automatically qualified, as the host nation. Israel qualified by winning the September 2019 Europe/Africa continental tournament.
Two teams qualified through the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament in November 2019. South Korea qualified as the best-placed team from the Asia/Oceania region (other than Japan, which already qualified as host), while Mexico qualified as the best-placed team from the Americas.
The United States qualified by winning the Americas Qualifying Event that was originally scheduled to take place in March 2020, but was postponed to May/June 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The final spot was awarded to the Dominican Republic which won a world Final Qualifying Tournament in late June 2021.
Competition schedule
GSGroup stage KOKnock-outBBronze medal gameFGold medal game Wed 28 Thu 29 Fri 30 Sat 31 Sun 1 Mon 2 Tue 3 Wed 4 Thu 5 Fri 6 Sat 7GS KO B F
Team squads
Competition format The small number of teams in the tournament resulted in an unusual competition format being adopted that featured 16 games. There was an opening group round-robin round, and a modified double-elimination bracket.
For the group round, there were two pools of three teams each. Each team played the other two teams in its pool once. A total of six games were played in the group round.
In the knockout round, the first three games featured teams that each finished in the same position in their respective pools (A1 vs B1, A2 vs B2, A3 vs B3). The loser of the A3 vs. B3 game was eliminated (with only one loss in the elimination round, plus one or two in the group stage). After this, play continued in double-elimination format until there is one team left in each of the winners and losers brackets. Those two teams played in the gold medal game (a single game; the losers bracket representative does not need to beat the winners bracket representative twice). The last two teams eliminated from the losers bracket played in the bronze medal game. In total, 10 games are played in the knockout round:
A3 vs B3 (loser eliminated) A2 vs B2 Winner of #1 vs Winner of #2 A1 vs B1 Loser of #2 vs Loser of #3 (loser eliminated) Loser of #4 vs Winner of #5 (loser to bronze medal game) Winner of #3 vs Winner of #4 (winner to gold medal game) Loser of #7 vs Winner of #6 (winner to gold medal game, loser to bronze medal game) Bronze medal game: Loser of #6 vs Loser of #8 Gold medal game: Winner of #7 vs. Winner of #8
Thus, the best two teams from group play face each other in the quarterfinals, with a possible rematch later in the tournament (including the gold medal game, if the winner also wins its next game and the loser wins its next two).
Group stage The schedule was announced on 28 June 2021. Note that "Qualification" column represents positional seeding in the knockout stage, effective at the conclusion of the group stage.
All times are local (UTC+9).
Group A
Group B
Knockout stage Bracket
Round 1
Round 2
Round 1 repechage
Round 2 repechage
Semifinals
Bronze medal game
Gold medal game
Final standings
PlaceTeamRecord 5–0 4–2 3–343–451–460–3
All-Olympic team AwardsPlayerClub teamMVP Award Tetsuto Yamada Tokyo Yakult SwallowsBest Defensive Player Honours Nick Allen Midland RockHounds (Oakland Athletics organization)Tokyo 2020All-OlympicBaseball TeamRight-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto Orix BuffaloesLeft-handed pitcher Anthony Gose Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians organization)Catcher Takuya Kai Fukuoka SoftBank HawksFirst baseman Triston Casas Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox organization)Second baseman Eddy Alvarez Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins organization)Third baseman Erick Mejia Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City Royals organization)Shortstop Hayato Sakamoto Yomiuri GiantsLeft fielder Hyun-soo Kim LG TwinsCenter fielder Park Hae-min Samsung LionsRight fielder Mitch Glasser Sioux Falls CanariesDesignated hitter Tyler Austin Yokohama DeNA BayStars
Selected by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).
See also Softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
References
External links Results book