Baseball/Softball & 4 other sports added for the 2020 Olympics

[Mr. E]

https://www.olympic.org/news/ioc-approves-five-new-sports-for-olympic-games-tokyo-2020

Baseball and Softball will be added to the Olympic events for the 2020 Games in Tokyo. They will be joined by Skateboarding, Surfing, Karate & Sports Climbing.

It's the right call to bring back baseball. The others show the effect things like the X-Games have had on the Olympics to update some of their events.

[gavran]

They should be getting rid of sports, not add more. Way too many BS events IMO. Who plays baseball except for the USA, and few other countries?

[UcanUwill]

What countries are good at Baseball? Never seen a Baseball game, so I don't know jack about the sport. But I heard its very statistics based, and that appeals to me/

[Mr. E]

What countries are good at Baseball? Never seen a Baseball game, so I don't know jack about the sport. But I heard its very statistics based, and that appeals to me/

In addition to the United States you'll see the likes of host country Japan as well as Korea, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Taiwan, Philippines, Canada, etc. Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory, but it will field it's own team. Most participation will come from the Western Hemisphere & Asia.

The Olympics will take place during the pennant race (lead-up to the playoffs) for Major League Baseball, so unless teams are eliminated from contention then you may not see some of the world's top players as their clubs will most likely not allow them to play. I would not be surprised to see the U.S. team fielded by mostly college & minor league players while going up against pros from Japan & Korea.

[pbernardi]

They should be getting rid of sports, not add more. Way too many BS events IMO. Who plays baseball except for the USA, and few other countries?

In Brazil baseball is known at least. It is ahead may other collective sports in popularity, as badminton, rugby and hockey.

I know that at least Cuba and Japan loves the sport. Perhaps other Central America countries / Asian countries play as well.

[Dupp]

They should be getting rid of sports, not add more. Way too many BS events IMO. Who plays baseball except for the USA, and few other countries?

Yeah adding badeball AND softball is ridiculous. You guys win enough gold.

I was gonna say they should add circket and rugby league as a joke to give Aussies more chance to win medals but cricket makes as much sense as baseball.

Both crap for Olympics.

[Mr. E]

They should be getting rid of sports, not add more. Way too many BS events IMO. Who plays baseball except for the USA, and few other countries?

Yeah adding badeball AND softball is ridiculous. You guys win enough gold.

I was gonna say they should add circket and rugby league as a joke to give Aussies more chance to win medals but cricket makes as much sense as baseball.

Both crap for Olympics.

Actually, seeing as how it is a one-time thing for 2020 the IOC seems to be doing this as a favor for host country, Japan.

[Dupp]

They should be getting rid of sports, not add more. Way too many BS events IMO. Who plays baseball except for the USA, and few other countries?

Yeah adding badeball AND softball is ridiculous. You guys win enough gold.

I was gonna say they should add circket and rugby league as a joke to give Aussies more chance to win medals but cricket makes as much sense as baseball.

Both crap for Olympics.

Actually, seeing as how it is a one-time thing for 2020 the IOC seems to be doing this as a favor for host country, Japan.

I wasnt really implying it was being done purposely to favour you guys just that it will. Didnt realize it was a one time thing so thats good from my point of view. It could stick though who knows.

[Mr. E]

Yeah adding badeball AND softball is ridiculous. You guys win enough gold.

I was gonna say they should add circket and rugby league as a joke to give Aussies more chance to win medals but cricket makes as much sense as baseball.

Both crap for Olympics.

Actually, seeing as how it is a one-time thing for 2020 the IOC seems to be doing this as a favor for host country, Japan.

I wasnt really implying it was being done purposely to favour you guys just that it will. Didnt realize it was a one time thing so thats good from my point of view. It could stick though who knows.

I think that for future games baseball/softball will be situational depending on the host country. Adding the facilities for Baseball might be asking a lot more of countries (many of whom may already struggle to get everything ready). Japan is already set to host baseball games. Same for the United States or Korea in future games.

And it may not be as big of an advantage for the USA as you may think. The Olympics take place during the playoff hunt for Major League Baseball, so a lot of teams probably won't let their players participate. Meanwhile, leagues in Japan & Korea could see more of their professional players available...unless they are playing over here.

And that is the other thing - if you look over MLB rosters you do not just see players from the United States. Take my hometown Houston Astros for example: our best player, Jose Altuve, would play for Venezuela. Carlos Correa would play for the Puerto Rican team (which would field separate from the US team). The Astros are about to add a pair of brothers who would have competed for Cuba...if they hadn't defected. Of the Astros top players you'd have two or three who would probably be in contention for a US team roster spot.

The popularity of baseball in those Latin American countries may be small in comparison to other sports; but in terms of sheer talent that plays in MLB, its farm system or international development systems, those countries will be well-represented.

[bb22]

Yeah adding badeball AND softball is ridiculous. You guys win enough gold.

I was gonna say they should add circket and rugby league as a joke to give Aussies more chance to win medals but cricket makes as much sense as baseball.

Both crap for Olympics.

Actually, seeing as how it is a one-time thing for 2020 the IOC seems to be doing this as a favor for host country, Japan.

I wasnt really implying it was being done purposely to favour you guys just that it will. Didnt realize it was a one time thing so thats good from my point of view. It could stick though who knows.

That's good for Japan but they do need to get rid of some sports, or AT LEAST cut down on the amount of disciplines within each sport. How many medals are awarded in swimming? Shooting has like 6-9 different events. Equestrian has 6 events! Weightlifting and Judo also have way too many weight classes imo.

[Dupp]

Actually, seeing as how it is a one-time thing for 2020 the IOC seems to be doing this as a favor for host country, Japan.

I wasnt really implying it was being done purposely to favour you guys just that it will. Didnt realize it was a one time thing so thats good from my point of view. It could stick though who knows.

That's good for Japan but they do need to get rid of some sports, or AT LEAST cut down on the amount of disciplines within each sport. How many medals are awarded in swimming? Shooting has like 6-9 different events. Equestrian has 6 events! Weightlifting and Judo also have way too many weight classes imo.

Yeah swimming really favours some athletes. I realize theres so many different events and styles but you play a whole tournament of ball and you win 1 medal where you could win 5 as a swimmer.

Swimming events probably should be cut down tbh.

[Mr. E]

I wasnt really implying it was being done purposely to favour you guys just that it will. Didnt realize it was a one time thing so thats good from my point of view. It could stick though who knows.

That's good for Japan but they do need to get rid of some sports, or AT LEAST cut down on the amount of disciplines within each sport. How many medals are awarded in swimming? Shooting has like 6-9 different events. Equestrian has 6 events! Weightlifting and Judo also have way too many weight classes imo.

Yeah swimming really favours some athletes. I realize theres so many different events and styles but you play a whole tournament of ball and you win 1 medal where you could win 5 as a swimmer.

Swimming events probably should be cut down tbh.

Yeah, you do get the occasional super-athlete like Michael Phelps; but for many of those swimmers they are just competing in one, maybe two events. I don't want to see opportunities like that slashed.

However, I do completely see the POV that it favors larger nations.

By the way - I just saw your location. In my personal opinion you guys got totally screwed out of the 2022 Winter Games in Almaty. Awarding the games to a location that gets 5 cm of snow on average per year the Winter Olympics...yeah, nothing suspicious there...

[Dupp]

That's good for Japan but they do need to get rid of some sports, or AT LEAST cut down on the amount of disciplines within each sport. How many medals are awarded in swimming? Shooting has like 6-9 different events. Equestrian has 6 events! Weightlifting and Judo also have way too many weight classes imo.

Yeah swimming really favours some athletes. I realize theres so many different events and styles but you play a whole tournament of ball and you win 1 medal where you could win 5 as a swimmer.

Swimming events probably should be cut down tbh.

Yeah, you do get the occasional super-athlete like Michael Phelps; but for many of those swimmers they are just competing in one, maybe two events. I don't want to see opportunities like that slashed.

However, I do completely see the POV that it favors larger nations.

By the way - I just saw your location. In my personal opinion you guys got totally screwed out of the 2022 Winter Games in Almaty. Awarding the games to a location that gets 5 cm of snow on average per year the Winter Olympics...yeah, nothing suspicious there...

Oh thats not legit im from Australia, just on the kasak bandwagon for the olympics.

Yeah i dunno what youd cut from the swimming probably a couple of the team events or medleys i guess. Not that it will happen.

[Frank Dux]

Baseball should absolutely not be included, as other posters mentioned, the tournament will take place during the pennant race, leaving us with a JV team tournament. Softball, I don't care for it, but the ladies don't get the exposure that the MLB gets, and it would be nice for them to have a big tournament so they can have their glory.

90% of the olympics is unwatchable to me. Too many niche sports, it's almost a joke at this point. Surfing/Skateboarding have a much higher participation than many of the current events, and would be a breathe of fresh air. I enjoy following climbing, but I'm not sure i'm sold on it as an olympic sport.

The IOC needs to start downscaling this monster that they've created. There's so much waste, so much infrastructure, and too many sports. Why is soccer an olympic sport? the pinnacle of soccer isn't an olympic gold, not even close. World Cup/CL/Domestic championships are far more important. It's not even the biggest tournament of the year. Get rid of it.

[osucavs33]

Those who think baseball is a big advantage for the USA don't really know baseball. Cuba and Japan both are usually powerhouses and are better than the USA in the olympic setting. The USA only has 1 gold and 1 bronze in olympic baseball. Watching the world baseball classic it is painfully obvious that the USA is not the best country for baseball.

It is true that no major leaguers will play because of the post season and contracts with their teams but it still should be pretty quality baseball. For anyone complaining about lesser competition olympic basketball was basically the same until NBA players were able to play.

In most sports in the olympics there is usually only a few countries that may win an event, and baseball really won't be any different. Even basketball really hasn't been very fun to watch except when the USA randomly may get upset. It has gotten better since the international influx in the NBA but it was pretty boring for a long time.