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Bryce Harper said he’d like to see MLB players compete at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
The World Baseball Classic is baseball’s best international showcase, but two years from now, Bryce Harper wants to see the game’s best players on an even larger stage.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman said he’s been pushing for MLB players to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. He cited the opportunity to have games played in front of the largest possible sporting audience (The 2026 Winter Olympics averaged 23.5 million viewers, according to NBC).
“I’ve been fighting for LA28 for a long time, I think my whole career I’ve been trying to get something started,” Harper said on Saturday. “The WBC is great, but it’s not the Olympics, right? That’s no disrespect to the WBC or anything, but everybody knows that when the Olympics are on, everyone is watching, no matter what sport it is.”
With the Summer Olympics returning to the United States for the first time since Atlanta 1996, there will likely be massive interest in Los Angeles 2028. And coming off the successful return of professional hockey players to the Winter Olympics at Milan Cortina 2026, it’s clear that having MLB players competing could drive record viewership.
Can Harper and other influential figures in baseball help make it happen?
Will MLB Players Play In The 2028 Olympics?
Whether or not MLB players will compete in Los Angeles all depends on the result of the collective bargaining negotiations between team owners and the MLBPA set to take place at the end of this season.
While a potential salary cap has garnered most of the hype (Harper has been a vocal opponent of one in recent years), the issue of allowing players to participate in Los Angeles 2028 could be another sticking point. The Summer Olympics would of course take place in the middle of the MLB season, with the baseball tournament scheduled to begin right after what is typically the All-Star break.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said last year he would be open to players competing in the Games and that the league’s schedule could be adjusted to make it easier for them to do so.
“I think it is an opportunity to market the game on a really global stage,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America ahead of the 2025 All-Star Game. “Obviously the clubs are going to have to endorse this. I mean, it’s a big deal. It is possible to play the All-Star Game in its normal spot, have a single break that would be longer, obviously, but still play 162 games without bleeding into the middle of November. That is possible, OK? It would require significant accommodations, but it’s possible.”
Baseball players could certainly take their guide from their hockey counterparts when it comes to earning the right to compete in the Olympics. In a new collective bargaining agreement signed in July 2025, NHL players successfully negotiated their return to the Games in 2026 and 2030. In their case, the break from the regular season is two weeks, which would be the same for MLB players (with the All-Star break included).
Baseball was a medal sport at the Summer Olympics from 1992-2008. It made its return at Tokyo 2020 but was not contested at Paris 2024. MLB Players have never competed at the Olympic Games.
How Do Countries Qualify For The 2028 Olympics?
The baseball tournament at the 2028 Olympics will have six teams. The United States automatically qualifies as the host nation, and the 2026 World Baseball Classic serves as the means of qualification for two more teams from the Americas, with the two highest finishers among teams such as the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela securing spots in the Games.
A team from Asia and either Europe or Oceania will qualify at the Premier 12 tournament in 2027, to be held at the Tokyo Dome. The highest finisher from the former and from either one of the latter will punch their ticket to Los Angeles.
The final spot at the Olympics will go to the winner of a tournament to be played no later than March 2028 at a site still to be determined. The participants will include two teams from the 2027 European Championship, two teams from the 2027 Asian Championship, one team from the Oceania Championship and the African champion.
Colin Capece is an NBA Contributing Writer at Heavy. His work has appeared in The Sporting News, The Dallas Morning News, USA Today and The Arizona Republic, where he covered everything from Caitlin Clark mania to a burgeoning cricket league. Capece received his master’s degree from Northwestern University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame. He roots for all the long-suffering New York sports teams. More about Colin Capece
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