Baseball World Classic Will Award Spots to the 2028 Olympic Games
Baseball will return to the Olympic program in 2028 and already has its qualification path defined. The World Baseball and Softball Confederation confirmed that seven teams, including the host country, will compete for the gold medal at the Los Angeles Games. With the United States automatically qualified as host, six spots remain available, which will be distributed through three international tournaments between 2026 and 2028.
TL;DR
- Baseball will be an Olympic sport in 2028, with a qualification system confirmed by the World Baseball and Softball Confederation.
- Seven teams will compete in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including the automatically qualified host nation, the USA.
- The qualification process involves three international tournaments from 2026 to 2028.
- The 2026 World Baseball Classic will award two direct spots to the Olympics.
- The 2027 Premier 12 tournament will grant two more spots: one for the top Asian team and one for the best-ranked team from Europe or Oceania.
- A final global qualifying tournament in early 2028 will award the last available Olympic spot.
- Baseball was absent from the Paris 2024 Olympics due to reasons including popularity and infrastructure in France.