According to an article from the Los Angeles Times, the International Olympic Committee voted on bringing back the sport for the 2020 Summer Olympics only. The last time baseball was in the Olympics, Team USA got the bronze medal with players such as Stephen Strasburg, Dexter Fowler, Trevor Cahill, and Jake Arrieta. There is a lot of speculation as to whether some countries will even bring their best players to Tokyo as the summer Olympics will be taking place during the heart of the season of the MLB. Also, the MLB has never collaborated with the Olympics but I understand why the next summer Olympics may be an exception. Japan has a huge following for baseball as it is one of the most popular sports in that country and in the whole Asia continent. If MLB players decide not to participate in the Olympics we should expect to see a similar result as compared to the World Baseball Classic tournament where Team USA has struggled. The dates that this sport will be played in Tokyo is July 29th to August 8th. It will be exciting to see six countries compete for a chance to win the gold! There is a qualification format as not every country participating in the Olympics will be in the baseball tournament. South Korea looks to repeat the same result as the 2008 Summer Olympics where they took the gold medal.

Softball has not been in the Olympics since 2008 and was apart of the program from 1996 to 2008. On August 12, 2018, the first team to qualify for the 2020 Olympics was The United States, by winning the World Championship last year. The United States has had the most success in this sport and will look to retain the gold medal as Team Japan won back in the 2008 summer Olympics. Overall, baseball and softball are two of the five new sports being added to this event.