Baseball was featured at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo, for the first time since the 2008 Summer Olympics. 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 | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
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. 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. As a result, the games were played behind closed doors.
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.
| 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 | Port St. Lucie / West Palm Beach | 1 | United States |
| Final Qualifying Tournament | 22–26 June 2021 | 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
| 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
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.
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:
- A3 vs B3 (loser eliminated)
- A2 vs B2
- Winner of #1 vs Winner of #2
- A1 vs B1
- Loser of #2 vs Loser of #3 (loser eliminated)
- Loser of #4 vs Winner of #5 (loser to bronze medal game)
- Winner of #3 vs Winner of #4 (winner to gold medal game)
- Loser of #7 vs Winner of #6 (winner to gold medal game, loser to bronze medal game)
- Bronze medal game: Loser of #6 vs Loser of #8
- 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. 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 |
(H) Hosts
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 |
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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
| 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
| 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
|
|
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).
See also
- Softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
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