Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics

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 at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Venue	Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama Fukushima Azuma Stadium, Fukushima City
Dates	28 July – 7 August 2021
No. of events	1
Competitors	144 from 6 nations
Teams	6
Medalists
Japan  United States  Dominican Republic
← 2008 2028 →

Baseball/softball was one of five optional sports that were added to the programme of the 2020 Summer Olympics. It did not return in 2024 for the Paris Summer Olympics.^[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

Main article: Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 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]

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

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

Competition schedule

^[9]

Legend

GS

Group stage

KO

Knock-out

B

Bronze medal game

F

Gold medal game

Wed 28	Thu 29	Fri 30	Sat 31	Sun 1	Mon 2	Tue 3	Wed 4	Thu 5	Fri 6	Sat 7
GS				KO						B	F

Team squads

Main article: Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – 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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	3	8	0
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	4	9	0
WP: Ryoji Kuribayashi (1–0)   LP: Jairo Asencio (0–1) Boxscore

30 July 12:00
Yokohama Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Mexico	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	1	6	0
WP: Ángel Sánchez (1–0)   LP: Teddy Stankiewicz (0–1)   Sv: Luis Felipe Castillo (1) Boxscore

31 July 12:00
Yokohama Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Japan	0	1	1	3	0	0	1	1	0	7	10	0
Mexico	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	4	7	2
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Israel	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	5	7	0
South Korea	0	0	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	1	6	11	0
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
United States	0	0	3	0	0	1	2	1	1	8	11	0
Israel	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	7	2
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
South Korea	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	5	0
United States	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	X	4	6	0
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

Round 2

Semifinals

Gold medal game

#1 (Loser Eliminated)

Israel

12

#3

Mexico

5

Israel

1

#2

South Korea (7)

11

#7

Dominican Republic

3

South Korea

2

South Korea

4

#4

Japan

5

United States

6

#10

Japan (10)

7

Japan

2

United States

0

Round 1 repechage

Round 2 repechage

#5

Israel

6

#6

Bronze medal game

Dominican Republic

7

Dominican Republic

1

#8

#9

United States

3

United States

7

Dominican Republic

10

South Korea

2

South Korea

6

Round 1

1 August 12:00
Yokohama Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Israel	1	0	5	0	0	0	6	0	0	12	12	0
Mexico	0	0	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	8	1
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dominican Republic	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	6	0
South Korea	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	12	1
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Israel	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	X	X	1	3	2
South Korea (7)	1	2	0	0	7	0	1	X	X	11	18	0
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
United States	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	6	12	2
Japan (10)	0	0	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	1	7	12	0
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Israel	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	6	9	2
Dominican Republic	1	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	2	7	9	1
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dominican Republic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	5	0
United States	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	X	3	3	3
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
South Korea	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	7	1
Japan	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	X	5	9	1
WP: Hiromi Itoh (1–0)   LP: Go Woo-suk (0–1)   Sv: Ryoji Kuribayashi (2) Boxscore

5 August 19:00
Yokohama Stadium

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
South Korea	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	7	0
United States	0	1	0	1	0	5	0	0	X	7	9	1
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Dominican Republic	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	5	0	10	14	0
South Korea	0	1	0	1	4	0	0	0	0	6	13	0
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

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
United States	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	1
Japan	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	X	2	8	0
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

Place Team Record  Japan 5–0  United States 4–2  Dominican Republic 3–3 4  South Korea 3–4 5  Israel 1–4 6  Mexico 0–3

2020 Olympic champions  Japan First title

All-Olympic team

Awards		Awarded player	National team / club team
MVP Award		Tetsuto Yamada	Japan / Tokyo Yakult Swallows
Best Defensive Player Honours		Nick Allen	United States / Midland RockHounds (Oakland Athletics organization)
Tokyo 2020 All-Olympic Baseball Team	Pitcher (Right)	Yoshinobu Yamamoto	Japan / Orix Buffaloes
	Pitcher (Left)	Anthony Gose	United States / Columbus Clippers (Cleveland Indians organization)
	Catcher	Takuya Kai	Japan / Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks
	First baseman	Triston Casas	United States / Portland Sea Dogs (Boston Red Sox organization)
	Second baseman	Eddy Alvarez	United States / Jupiter Hammerheads (Miami Marlins organization)
	Third baseman	Erick Mejia	Dominican Republic / Omaha Storm Chasers (Kansas City Royals organization)
	Shortstop	Hayato Sakamoto	Japan / Yomiuri Giants
	Left fielder	Hyun-soo Kim	South Korea / LG Twins
	Center fielder	Park Hae-min	South Korea / Samsung Lions
	Right fielder	Mitch Glasser	Israel / Sioux Falls Canaries
	Designated hitter	Tyler Austin	United States / Yokohama DeNA BayStars

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

See also

• Softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics