MLB commissioner Rob Manfred expressed optimism that active big leaguers could participate in Olympic baseball for the first time at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, though logistical hurdles remain.
Manfred was asked if he was positive that baseball officials want MLB participation if it can be worked out.
“I am positive about it,” Manfred replied to a group of media before World Series Game 2 on Saturday. ”I think that the owners have kind of crossed the line in terms of, we’d like to do it if we can possibly make it work. But there are logistical issues that still need to be worked though.”
Manfred cautioned later, “The logistics of LA, as evidenced by how long we’ve been talking about it, are difficult.“
In past years, Manfred said it would be hard for MLB players to take part in the Olympics given the Games are in the middle of the baseball season.
Then in June, he said “some progress“ had been made after talks with LA 2028, according to MLB.com.
In July, Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said of LA 2028, “There’s a lot of work that still needs to be done,” but his group was “hopeful that we can figure our way through it for the benefit of the game,” according to multiple reports.
The LA Olympic baseball tournament is scheduled for the first week of the Games from July 15-20, 2028, at Dodger Stadium (which hosted baseball as a demonstration sport at the 1984 LA Games).
The MLB All-Star breaks the past five seasons were: July 12-14, 18-20, 10-13, 15-18 and 14-17.
If MLB participates in LA 2028, the All-Star break would likely be extended to about 11 days to include the All-Star Game (presumably Tuesday, July 11) and the Olympics, Manfred said Monday, according to ESPN.com.
“There are a lot of details that need to be worked out,” Manfred said Saturday. “We have made a lot of progress with LA 2028 in terms of the calendar. Right now, we’re in discussions with the players association about that set of issues.”
Baseball was on the Olympic medal program from 1992 through 2008, plus at the Tokyo Games in 2021, with college players and minor leaguers on U.S. teams at those past editions.
In May, LA 2028 chairperson and CEO Casey Wasserman said that Olympic organizers were having continued ”great conversations” with the league and the union.
”Obviously, their complexity is it requires them to shut down the season, or take players out of competition during the season for a period of time,” Wasserman said then. ”So there’s a level of complexity that doesn’t exist for the NFL, but the conversations have been great. I think this just continues to show how really there is no opportunity like this for any sport in the world. I think Major League Baseball fully understands that, and we continue to engage with them to hopefully get to a good result where it’s our goal to make a similar announcement with baseball in the near future, if we can.”
A team of 25 notable MLB players who also competed at the Olympics.