Baseball
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
VenueYokohama Stadium, Yokohama
Fukushima Azuma Stadium, Fukushima City
Dates28 July – 7 August 2021
No. of events1
Competitors144 from 6 nations
Teams6
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Japan
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  United States
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Dominican Republic

Baseball was featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics.[1] Six national teams competed in the tournament: Israel, Japan (host), Mexico, South Korea, the United States, and the Dominican Republic.

Baseball/softball was one of five sports that were added to the programme of the 2020 Summer Olympics only. It will not return in 2024.[2] The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but on 24 March 2020, the Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] As a result, the games were played behind closed doors.[4]

Medalists

Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's tournament  Japan
Kōyō Aoyagi
Suguru Iwazaki
Masato Morishita
Hiromi Itoh
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Masahiro Tanaka
Yasuaki Yamasaki
Ryoji Kuribayashi
Yūdai Ōno
Kodai Senga
Kaima Taira
Ryutaro Umeno
Takuya Kai
Tetsuto Yamada
Sōsuke Genda
Hideto Asamura
Ryosuke Kikuchi
Hayato Sakamoto
Munetaka Murakami
Kensuke Kondo
Yuki Yanagita
Ryoya Kurihara
Masataka Yoshida
Seiya Suzuki
 United States
Shane Baz
Anthony Carter
Brandon Dickson
Anthony Gose
Edwin Jackson
Scott Kazmir
Nick Martinez
Scott McGough
David Robertson
Joe Ryan
Ryder Ryan
Simeon Woods Richardson
Tim Federowicz
Mark Kolozsvary
Nick Allen
Eddy Alvarez
Triston Casas
Todd Frazier
Jamie Westbrook
Tyler Austin
Eric Filia
Patrick Kivlehan
Jack López
Bubba Starling
 Dominican Republic
Darío Álvarez
Gabriel Arias
Jairo Asencio
Luis Felipe Castillo
Jumbo Díaz
Junior García
Jhan Mariñez
Cristopher Mercedes
Denyi Reyes
Ramón Rosso
Ángel Sánchez
Raúl Valdés
Roldani Baldwin
Charlie Valerio
José Bautista
Juan Francisco
Jeison Guzmán
Erick Mejia
Gustavo Núñez
Emilio Bonifácio
Melky Cabrera
Johan Mieses
Yefri Pérez
Julio Rodríguez

Qualification

Six national teams qualified for the Olympic baseball tournament. Japan automatically qualified, as the host nation. Israel qualified by winning the September 2019 Europe/Africa continental tournament.

Two teams qualified through the 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament in November 2019. South Korea qualified as the best-placed team from the Asia/Oceania region (other than Japan, which already qualified as host), while Mexico qualified as the best-placed team from the Americas.

The United States qualified by winning the Americas Qualifying Event that was originally scheduled to take place in March 2020, but was postponed to May/June 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The final spot was awarded to the Dominican Republic which won a world Final Qualifying Tournament in late June 2021.[5]

EventDatesLocation(s)Berth(s)Qualified
Host nation 1  Japan
Africa/Europe Qualifying Event 18–22 September 2019 Italy Bologna / Parma 1  Israel
2019 WBSC Premier12 2–17 November 2019 Japan Tokyo1 2  Mexico
 South Korea
Americas Qualifying Event 31 May–5 June 2021[6][7] United States Port St. Lucie / West Palm Beach 1  United States
Final Qualifying Tournament 22–26 June 2021[8] Mexico Puebla 1  Dominican Republic
Total6

1 The WBSC Premier12 was played in Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan, with the final in Tokyo.

Competition schedule

[9]

Legend
GSGroup stage KOKnock-out BBronze medal game FGold medal game
Wed 28Thu 29Fri 30Sat 31Sun 1Mon 2Tue 3Wed 4Thu 5Fri 6Sat 7
GSKOBF

Team squads

Competition format

The small number of teams in the tournament resulted in an unusual competition format being adopted that featured 16 games. There was an opening group round-robin round, and a modified double-elimination bracket.[10]

For the group round, there were two pools of three teams each. Each team played the other two teams in its pool once. A total of six games were played in the group round.

In the knockout round, the first three games featured teams that each finished in the same position in their respective pools (A1 vs B1, A2 vs B2, A3 vs B3). The loser of the A3 vs. B3 game was eliminated (with only one loss in the elimination round, plus one or two in the group stage). After this, play continued in double-elimination format until there is one team left in each of the winners and losers brackets. Those two teams played 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 played in the bronze medal game. In total, 10 games are played in the knockout round:

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

Group stage

The schedule was announced on 28 June 2021.[11] Note that "Qualification" column represents positional seeding in the knockout stage, effective at the conclusion of the group stage.

All times are local (UTC+9).

Group A

Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD PCT GB Qualification
1  Japan (H) 2 2 0 11 7 +4 1.000 Round 2
2  Dominican Republic 2 1 1 4 4 0 .500 1 Round 1 game #2
3  Mexico 2 0 2 4 8 4 .000 2 Round 1 game #1
Source: TOCOG and WBSC
(H) Hosts

28 July 12:00 (JST)
Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Dominican Republic000000201380
 Japan000000103490
WP: Ryoji Kuribayashi (1–0)   LP: Jairo Asencio (0–1)
Boxscore

30 July 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Mexico000000000040
 Dominican Republic00001000X160
WP: Ángel Sánchez (1–0)   LP: Teddy Stankiewicz (0–1)   Sv: Luis Felipe Castillo (1)
Boxscore

31 July 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Japan0113001107100
 Mexico100100020472
WP: Masato Morishita (1–0)   LP: Juan Pablo Oramas (0–1)   Sv: Ryoji Kuribayashi (1)
Home runs:
JPN: Tetsuto Yamada (1), Hayato Sakamoto (1)
MEX: Joey Meneses (1)
Boxscore

Group B

Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD PCT GB Qualification
1  United States 2 2 0 12 3 +9 1.000 Round 2
2  South Korea 2 1 1 8 9 1 .500 1 Round 1 game #2
3  Israel 2 0 2 6 14 8 .000 2 Round 1 game #1
Source: TOCOG and WBSC

29 July 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team12345678910RHE
 Israel0020020010570
 South Korea00020030016110
WP: Oh Seung-hwan (1–0)   LP: Jeremy Bleich (0–1)
Home runs:
ISR: Ian Kinsler (1), Ryan Lavarnway 2 (2)
KOR: Oh Ji-hwan (1), Lee Jung-hoo (1), Hyun-soo Kim (1)
Boxscore

30 July 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 United States0030012118110
 Israel000100000172
WP: Joe Ryan (1–0)   LP: Joey Wagman (0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Tyler Austin (1)
ISR: Danny Valencia (1)
Boxscore

31 July 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 South Korea100000001250
 United States00022000X460
WP: Nick Martinez (1–0)   LP: Ko Young-pyo (0–1)   Sv: David Robertson (1)
Home runs:
KOR: None
USA: Triston Casas (1), Nick Allen (1)
Boxscore

Knockout stage

Bracket

Round 1

1 August 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Israel10500060012120
 Mexico004001000581
WP: Zack Weiss (1–0)   LP: Manny Barreda (0–1)
Home runs:
ISR: Danny Valencia (2)
MEX: None
Boxscore

1 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Dominican Republic100200000360
 South Korea1000000034121
WP: Oh Seung-hwan (2–0)   LP: Luis Felipe Castillo (0–1)
Home runs:
DOM: Juan Francisco (1)
KOR: None
Boxscore

Round 2

2 August 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Israel0000100XX132
 South Korea (7)1200701XX11180
WP: Cho Sang-woo (1–0)   LP: Joey Wagman (0–2)
Home runs:
ISR: None
KOR: Oh Ji-hwan (2), Hyun-soo Kim (2)
Boxscore

2 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team12345678910RHE
 United States00033000006122
 Japan (10)00212000117120
WP: Ryoji Kuribayashi (2–0)   LP: Edwin Jackson (0–1)
Home runs:
USA: Triston Casas (2)
JPN: Seiya Suzuki (1)
Boxscore

Round 1 repechage

3 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Israel000040020692
 Dominican Republic101002102791
WP: Luis Felipe Castillo (1–1)   LP: Zack Weiss (1–1)
Home runs:
ISR: Danny Valencia (3)
DOM: Jeison Guzman (1), Johan Mieses (1)
Boxscore

Round 2 repechage

4 August 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Dominican Republic000000001150
 United States20001000X333
WP: Scott Kazmir (1–0)   LP: Denyi Reyes (0–1)   Sv: David Robertson (2)
Home runs:
DOM: Charlie Valerio (1)
USA: Triston Casas (3), Tyler Austin (2)
Boxscore

Semifinals

4 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 South Korea000002000271
 Japan00101003X591
WP: Hiromi Itoh (1–0)   LP: Go Woo-suk (0–1)   Sv: Ryoji Kuribayashi (2)
Boxscore

5 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 South Korea000010100270
 United States01010500X791
WP: Ryder Ryan (1–0)   LP: Lee Eui-lee (0–1)
Home runs:
KOR: None
USA: Jamie Westbrook (1)
Boxscore

Bronze medal game

7 August 12:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 Dominican Republic40001005010140
 South Korea0101400006130
WP: Cristopher Mercedes (1–0)   LP: Oh Seung-hwan (2–1)   Sv: Jumbo Díaz (1)
Home runs:
DOM: Juan Francisco (2), Julio Rodríguez (1), Johan Mieses (2)
KOR: Hyun-soo Kim (3)
Boxscore

Gold medal game

7 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium
Team123456789RHE
 United States000000000061
 Japan00100001X280
WP: Masato Morishita (2–0)   LP: Nick Martinez (1–1)   Sv: Ryoji Kuribayashi (3)
Home runs:
USA: None
JPN: Munetaka Murakami (1)
Boxscore

Final standings

All-Olympic team

AwardsAwarded playerAffiliation team
MVP AwardJapan Tetsuto YamadaJapan Japan / Japan Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Best Defensive Player HonoursUnited States Nick AllenUnited States United States /United States Midland RockHounds (Oakland Athletics organization)
Tokyo 2020
All-Olympic
Baseball Team
Pitcher (Right)Japan Yoshinobu YamamotoJapan Japan /Japan Orix Buffaloes
Pitcher (Left)United States Anthony GoseUnited States United States /United States Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians organization)
CatcherJapan Takuya KaiJapan Japan /Japan Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
First basemanUnited States Triston CasasUnited States United States /United States Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox organization)
Second basemanUnited States Eddy AlvarezUnited States United States /United States Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins organization)
Third basemanDominican Republic Erick MejiaDominican Republic Dominican Republic /United States Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City Royals organization)
ShortstopJapan Hayato SakamotoJapan Japan /Japan Yomiuri Giants
Left fielderSouth Korea Hyun-soo KimSouth Korea South Korea / South Korea LG Twins
Center fielderSouth Korea Park Hae-minSouth Korea South Korea /South Korea Samsung Lions
Right fielderIsrael Mitch GlasserIsrael Israel /United States Sioux Falls Canaries
Designated hitterUnited States Tyler AustinUnited States United States /Japan Yokohama DeNA BayStars

Selected by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC).[12]

See also

References

  1. "Baseball/Softball". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  2. "Gender equality and youth at the heart of the Paris 2024 Olympic Sports Programme". International Olympic Committee. 7 December 2020. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  3. "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  4. "Tokyo Olympics to be held without fans after new COVID-19 state of emergency declared". usatoday.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. "WBSC announces hosts, dates of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Baseball/Softball Qualifiers". wbsc.org. World Baseball Softball Confederation. 20 January 2019. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
  6. "WBSC Olympic baseball qualifiers to be staged in June in Florida and Taichung/TPE". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 16 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. "Tokyo 2020 Olympics: WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to be staged from 31 May to 5 June in The Palm Beaches & St. Lucie County, Florida". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  8. "WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier for Tokyo 2020 moved from Taiwan to Mexico". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 20 May 2021. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  9. "Baseball/Softball Competition Schedule". Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  10. "Competition format" (PDF). Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  11. "WBSC, Tokyo 2020 reveal Olympic Baseball groups and schedule". wbsc.org. World Baseball Softball Confederation. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  12. "WBSC names MVP and Tokyo 2020 All-Olympic Baseball Team". NPB.jp. 7 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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