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Baseball returns to the Olympics in 2020

A look at what you need to know for Tokyo.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Baseball fans rejoice! America's pastime is going international with a return to the Olympic Games. It's not as simple as it sounds though, here's an idea as to what baseball in Tokyo will look like.

No Major League Players?

That's right. The MLB has never stopped its regular season (which is always entering an important stretch come the end of July) for the Olympic games. In the five Olympics in which baseball was a medal sport (1992-2008) the US Teams were fielded with minor leaguer or amateur players (college mostly). This wouldn't be a problem if the other leagues around the world did the same, but they don't. Both Japan and South Korea are expected to stop their respective major leagues. That doesn't even bring into account Cuba, which leads all countries with three gold medals in the Olympic Games.

How does a team qualify?  

Six teams will get a chance to duke it out for a place on the podium. Japan already has a spot secured in the tournament because it is the host country. As for the rest, there are a few options:

1) End the WBSC Premier tournament, which is scheduled to take place in November of 2019, as a top finisher in either the Americas or Asia/Oceania region.

2) The final three spots will be determined through Africa/Europe, Americas, and Intercontinental qualifiers.

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How does Team USA normally do in this kind of thing?

Team USA has won gold just once and won bronze twice. As mentioned before, Cuba has won gold the most (3) and South Korea was the last team to win gold back in Beijing in 2008. Japan has never won gold, but has finished with a silver and two bronze medals. With baseball being so big in Japan and the country hosting this year, you'd imagine the team will have extra motivation. 

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