"Ottani may come out if MLB players participate in the Olympics."
U.S. Major League Baseball stars have opened their way to participate in baseball events that are likely to return to official events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
On the 13th that it has been confirmed by the MLB Secretariat to participate in the LA Olympics, citing Ricardo Prikari, chairman of the World Baseball Softball Association (WBSC), who attended the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive committee in Mumbai, India.
"If baseball is confirmed to return to the official event at the LA Olympics, MLB players will also participate, and the MLB players' union agreed."
The official event for the 2028 LA Olympics will be decided at the IOC General Assembly to be held in Mumbai from the 15th to the 17th.
Baseball and softball were adopted as exhibition events at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and became official since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
It was excluded from the official event after the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but was temporarily held at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and was again excluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics.
As such, the biggest reason baseball has become "in and out" of official Olympic events is the conflict between the IOC and the MLB Secretariat.
The IOC pressed MLB to allow MLB players to participate in the Olympics, but the MLB Secretariat countered that it was difficult to dispatch them because they were in the midst of the season.
The 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta tournaments had no major problems with only amateur players participating, but the conflict between the two began in earnest from the 2000 Sydney tournament, where professional players were allowed to participate.
South Korea and Japan sent out the best players to the Olympics, but the U.S. formed a squad mainly for minor league players, and not worthy of its reputation as a "baseball master" only won one gold medal, one silver medal, and two bronze medals in the past Olympics. 스포츠토토
Instead, MLB created the World Baseball Classic (WBC), where all major league players participated in place of the Olympics, and held six tournaments from 2006 to this year.
If the MLB Secretariat consistently approves of MLB players to participate in the Olympics in the wake of the LA Olympics, the possibility of baseball remaining in the official Olympic event will increase even after the LA Games.
"It has become possible for Shohei Otani to participate in the Olympics. Whether or not to suspend the MLB season is undecided, he said. "President Prikari was confident that 'baseball is the top candidate for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.'