Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Baseball
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue Yokohama Stadium
Fukushima Azuma Stadium
Dates 29 July – 8 August
No. of events 1
Competitors 6 teams

Baseball will be featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1] The tournament will consist of six teams. Baseball/softball is one of five sports added to the program of the 2020 Summer Olympics only, with no guarantee it will return in 2024.

Medalists

Gold Silver Bronze

Competition format

The small number of teams in the tournament led to an unusual competition format that will feature 16 games. There will be an opening group round-robin round and a modified double-elimination bracket. For the group round, there will be two pools of three teams each. Each team will play the other two teams once. A total of six games will be played in the group round.[2]

In the knockout round, the first three games will feature teams that each finished in the same position in their pools (A1 vs B1, A2 vs B2, A3 vs B3). The loser of the A3 vs. B3 game is eliminated (with only one loss). Otherwise, play continues in double-elimination format until there is one team left in each of the winners and losers brackets; those two teams play 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 play in the bronze medal game. In total, ten games are played in the knockout round:[2]

  1. A3 vs B3 (loser eliminated)
  2. A2 vs B2
  3. A1 vs B1
  4. Winner of #1 vs Winner of #2
  5. Loser of #2 vs Loser of #3 (loser eliminated)
  6. Winner of #3 vs Winner of #4 (winner to gold medal game)
  7. Loser of #4 vs Winner of #5 (loser to bronze medal game)
  8. Loser of #6 vs Winner of #7 (winner to gold medal game, loser to bronze medal game)
  9. Bronze medal game: Loser of #7 vs Loser of #8
  10. Gold medal game: Winner of #6 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 three).

Qualification

Six teams will qualify for the Olympic baseball tournament. Japan, as the host nation, automatically qualified. Two teams will qualify through the 2019 Premier12 tournament--the best team from the Americas and the best team from Asia or Oceania. Another American team will qualify through an Americas continental tournament. One spot is reserved for a European or African team through a combined continental tournament. The final spot will be awarded in a world final qualification tournament.[3]

EventDateLocationVacanciesQualified
Host nation - - 1  Japan
2019 WBSC Premier12 November 2019 Japan / Australia 2
Africa/Europe Qualifying Event February 2020 1
Americas Qualifying Event February 2020 1
Final Qualifying Tournament March/April 2020 1
TOTAL6

Team squad

TeamQualification criteriaAppearance
JapanAutomatic as host nation of the Olympics 6th


See also

References

  1. "Baseball/Softball". Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  2. 1 2 Row with US TV holds up publication of Tokyo 2020 aquatics schedule but baseball granted extra matches
  3. "WBSC reveals Tokyo 2020 Olympic Qualifiers for Baseball, Softball". Retrieved 12 July 2018.
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