Citius, Altius, Fortius

A few years back, I wrote a post about how I think Baseball should be brought back to the Olympics. I was inspired by the World Baseball Classic, and I felt that with baseball growing in popularity, it should be added into the Olympics. Well, last week, my desires came to fruition as the International Olympic Committee voted to add baseball to the docket for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. It remains to be seen whether MLB or MiLB will allow their players to participate, so there are still some issues to be worked out. Whatever happens, I’m excited for the opportunity to see the greatest game ever played on the international stage.

Yes, there is the question of who will play. I can’t see any MLB franchises willingly letting their players participate in a two- or three-week Olympic tournament literally in the middle of the season. There has been talk of following the example the NHL sets in hockey by aligning the All-Star Break with the Olympic tournament. But, could the baseball world endure a three-week layoff? The season is already ending in November, so adding that break pushes the World Series farther back. Also, the money is so much greater in baseball, and you would have both Major and Minor League teams losing players for three-weeks as they go play for their respective countries. An idea would be to use elite-level amateurs in the tournament, like the players we see in the summer collegiate leagues. I suppose that would work, but would people really get excited for the Olympics if they knew the best talent in the world wasn’t competing? Isn’t that the whole point of the Olympics?

There’s also the issue with the World Baseball Classic. Will it continue now that there is baseball in the Olympics? Say what you want about the WBC, but it did attract MLB talent, and franchises were a little more lenient letting their players play because it occurred during Spring Training. There were also the lucrative TV deals that ESPN got from playing the games that they wouldn’t reap in the Olympics. The venues could also be spread out across the world and in various size ballparks, not centralized in one city.

So, with all this in mind, here’s my proposal: do both the WBC and the Olympics. Here’s how it could work: restructure the WBC so that it falls every four years on the Olympics. The WBC will have 16-teams and will operate as normal except that the top four teams in the WBC advance to the Olympics. At the Olympics, the top four teams play a round robin tournament to establish seeding for the medal round. The medal round could be double-elimination, just like the College World Series. With only four teams, the tournament shouldn’t take more than a week, which is just a little longer than the current All-Star Break. To accommodate the added games, MLB could shorten the regular season by three or four games during the years the Olympics are played. Also, when the Olympics are played, there would be no All-Star Game. All WBC and Olympics rosters would have a 40-man limit, so that way there could be plenty of subs to go around.   Whatever the format, let’s talk about a freaking amazing Baseball Road Trip it could present. Can you imagine just how awesome jetting off to Tokyo for a Baseball Road Trip at the Olympics would be? We’ve gone on some awesome Road Trips in the past, but I think that would take the cake for most exhilarating experience.

Speaking of awesome Road Trips, this past weekend I went down to San Diego for the second time this season. I’ll post an update on that trip here in a few days.

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)