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Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification

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Main article: Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualificationmen
Tournamentmen
Rostersmen
Softball at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Qualificationwomen
Tournamentwomen
Rosterswomen

Six national teams qualified to compete in baseball at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (postponed to 2021[1] due to the COVID-19 pandemic). As host, Japan automatically qualified. Israel also qualified, by winning the Africa/Europe Qualifying Event in September 2019.

In addition, two teams qualified through the November 2019 WBSC Premier12 tournament. Mexico qualified as the best team from the Americas, and South Korea qualified as the best team from Asia or Oceania (other than already-qualified Japan).[2] The United States qualified by winning the Americas Qualifying Event in early June 2021.[3]

The last spot was awarded to the Dominican Republic, for winning the Final Qualifying Tournament in late June 2021.[4][5]

Timeline

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

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

Africa/Europe Qualifying Event

[edit]
Drew Maggi bats for Italy during the qualifying tournament

Israel qualified for the Olympics by winning the two-continent qualifying tournament for Europe and Africa. The tournament was a round robin. It was held in Parma and Bologna, Italy, from 18 to 22 September 2019. It featured six teams: the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Israel, and the Czech Republic (the top five teams in the 2019 European Baseball Championship), and South Africa (the winner of the 2019 African Baseball Championship).

Petr Čech of the Czech Republic led the tournament in batting average (.500), and Danny Valencia of Israel led in runs (7), home runs (3), RBIs (9), walks (5), and slugging percentage (1.000). Pitchers Orlando Yntema of the Netherlands and Joey Wagman of Israel tied for the lead with two wins, and Wagman led in complete games (1) and strikeouts (14).[9]

As the winner of the tournament, Israel qualified to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. The second-place team in the event, the Netherlands, received another qualification opportunity in the Final Qualifying Tournament.[4]

Standings

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD GB Qualification
1  Israel 5 4 1 34 11 +23 — Qualification to 2020 Summer Olympics
2  Netherlands 5 4 1 26 15 +11 — Qualification to Final Qualifying Tournament
3  Czech Republic 5 3 2 26 17 +9 1
4  Spain 5 2 3 16 19 −3 2
5  Italy 5 2 3 23 25 −2 2
6  South Africa 5 0 5 8 46 −38 4
Source: WBSC
18 September 2019 Netherlands  4–1  Czech Republic Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 140
Boxscore
18 September 2019 South Africa  postponed1  Italy Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Boxscore
18 September 2019 Spain  0–3  Israel Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 100
Boxscore
19 September 2019 South Africa  1–7  Spain Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 100
Boxscore
19 September 2019 Netherlands  1–8  Israel Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 160
Boxscore
19 September 2019 Czech Republic  1–5  Italy Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 864
Boxscore
20 September 2019 South Africa  4–10 (10)  Italy Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 150
Boxscore
20 September 2019 South Africa  1–11 (8)  Czech Republic Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 260
Boxscore
20 September 2019 Israel  8–2  Italy Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 1,213
Boxscore
20 September 2019 Spain  2–6  Netherlands Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 250
Boxscore
21 September 2019 South Africa  1–7  Netherlands Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 110
Boxscore
21 September 2019 Italy  3–4  Spain Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 1,230
Boxscore
21 September 2019 Czech Republic  7–4  Israel Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Boxscore
22 September 2019 Israel  11–1 (8)  South Africa Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 225
Boxscore
22 September 2019 Spain  3–6  Czech Republic Nino Cavalli Stadium, Parma
Attendance: 62
Boxscore
22 September 2019 Netherlands  8–3  Italy Gianni Falchi Stadium, Bologna
Attendance: 520
Boxscore

1 game postponed 4–4 in 6th inning; continued 20 September.[10]

2019 Premier12

[edit]
Main article: 2019 WBSC Premier12

The top 12 teams on the WBSC men's baseball ranking list at the end of 2018 qualified for the November 2019 Premier12 competition. Teams from the Americas, Asia, and Oceania were able to qualify for the 2020 Olympics through this tournament. Mexico earned a quota spot as the top finisher from the Americas, and South Korea earned a spot as the top finisher from Asia or Oceania (excluding the already qualified host, Japan).[2]

Final standings

[edit]
Rk Team W L
1  Japan 7 1
2  South Korea 5 3
Bronze medal game
3  Mexico 6 2
4  United States 4 4
Eliminated in Super Round
5  Chinese Taipei 4 3
6  Australia 2 5
Eliminated in Group stage
7  Canada 1 2
7  Dominican Republic 1 2
7  Venezuela 1 2
10  Cuba 1 2
10  Netherlands 0 3
10  Puerto Rico 0 3

Americas Qualifying Event

[edit]

The United States won the eight-team Americas Qualifying Event, and was thereby awarded the one quota spot allocated to the winner of the tournament.[11] The teams that finished in second and third place in the event, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela, progressed to the Final Qualifying Tournament.[4]

All six American teams that had competed in the 2019 Premier12 but did not qualify for the Olympics in that tournament received a place at this Qualifying Event. In addition, the event included the top two finishers at the 2019 Pan American Games that did not qualify for the 2019 Premier12. The event was originally scheduled to be held from 22 to 26 March 2020, in Arizona, but was postponed to 31 May through 5 June in Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach, Florida, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12][7]

Canada, the Dominican Republic, the US, and Venezuela advanced to the four-team Super Round. Canada came in fourth, and was thus eliminated from possible Olympic qualification.[13]

Jeison Guzman of the Dominican Republic led the tournament in batting average (.571), Julio Rodríguez of the DR led in runs (7), José Bautista of the DR led in walks (6), and Juan Francisco of the DR led in home runs (4) and RBIs (9).[14]

Qualification

[edit]
2019 Premier12
2019 Pan American Games
Main article: Baseball at the 2019 Pan American Games

Group A

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD GB Qualification
1  United States 2 2 0 15 7 +8 — Advance to Super Round
2  Dominican Republic 3 2 1 24 13 +11 0.5
3  Nicaragua 3 1 2 11 26 −15 1.5
4  Puerto Rico 2 0 2 8 12 −4 2
Source: WBSC
31 May 2021 Puerto Rico  2–5  Dominican Republic Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 2,835
Boxscore
31 May 2021 United States  7–1  Nicaragua Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 3,500
Boxscore
1 June 2021 Nicaragua  7–6 (10)  Puerto Rico FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 748
Boxscore
1 June 2021 Dominican Republic  6–8  United States FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 200
Boxscore
2 June 2021 Nicaragua  3–13 (8)  Dominican Republic Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 892
Boxscore
3 June 2021 Puerto Rico  1–6 (abandoned due to rain)  United States Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 0
Boxscore

Group B

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD GB Qualification
1  Venezuela 3 3 0 14 7 +7 — Advance to Super Round
2  Canada 3 2 1 13 10 +3 1
3  Cuba 3 1 2 26 15 +11 2
4  Colombia 3 0 3 5 26 −21 3
Source: WBSC
31 May 2021 Venezuela  6–5  Cuba FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 3,629
Boxscore
31 May 2021 Colombia  0–7  Canada FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 1,042
Boxscore
1 June 2021 Colombia  2–3  Venezuela Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 513
Boxscore
1 June 2021 Canada  6–5  Cuba Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 2,503
Boxscore
2 June 2021 Canada  0–5  Venezuela FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 528
Boxscore
2 June 2021 Cuba  16–3 (7)  Colombia FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 2,031
Boxscore

Super Round

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD GB Qualification
1  United States 3 3 0 22 9 +13 — Qualify to 2020 Summer Olympics
2  Dominican Republic 3 2 1 26 17 +9 1 Advance to Final Qualifying Tournament
3  Venezuela 3 1 2 11 18 −7 2
4  Canada 3 0 3 6 21 −15 3
Source: WBSC
4 June 2021 Dominican Republic  14–4  Venezuela FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 829
Boxscore
4 June 2021 Canada  1–10  United States FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches, West Palm Beach
Attendance: 839
Boxscore
5 June 2021 Dominican Republic  6–5  Canada Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 2,000
Boxscore
5 June 2021 United States  4–2  Venezuela Clover Park, Port St. Lucie
Attendance: 2,202
Boxscore

Final qualifying tournament

[edit]

The Dominican Republic, as the winner of the Final Qualifying Tournament in late June 2021 in Mexico, earned the final qualification spot for the 2020 Olympics. Three teams took part. Six teams were originally scheduled to take part: the runner-up from the Africa/Europe Qualifying Event, the runner-up and third-place team from the Americas Qualifying Event, the top two finishers from the 2019 Asian Baseball Championship that had not already qualified for the Olympics, and Australia (which was chosen to represent the Oceania region).[5][15][16]

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 1 to 5 April 2020 in Taichung and Douliu, Taiwan. It was initially postponed to 17 to 21 June, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[17] Following the decision to postpone the 2020 Olympic Games to 2021 due to the pandemic, the WBSC again postponed the tournament, this time to 16 to 20 June 2021 in Taiwan.[18] In May 2021, due to a spike in domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases in Taiwan and new restrictions imposed by the local government, the WBSC moved the final qualifier to 22 to 26 June 2021, in the city of Puebla, Mexico.[8][19]

On 7 May 2021, China withdrew from the competition.[20] Chinese Taipei also withdrew on 2 June 2021, due to concerns related to player safety from COVID-19 in Mexico, leaving four teams and no Asian representation at the tournament.[21] On 8 June 2021, Australia withdrew from the tournament, due to logistical issues caused by COVID-19, leaving just three teams to compete.[22]

Qualification

[edit]
2020 Americas Qualifying Event
2019 Africa/Europe Qualifying Event
2019 Asian Baseball Championship
Main article: 2019 Asian Baseball Championship
Oceania representative

Round robin

[edit]
Pos Team Pld W L RF RA RD GB Qualification
1  Dominican Republic 2 2 0 14 10 +4 — Advance to Final
2  Venezuela 2 1 1 16 13 +3 1 Advance to Semifinal
3  Netherlands 2 0 2 6 13 −7 2
Source: WBSC
22 June 2021 Venezuela  7–10  Dominican Republic Estadio Hermanos Serdán, Puebla
Attendance: 1,790
Boxscore
23 June 2021 Netherlands  3–9  Venezuela Estadio Hermanos Serdán, Puebla
Attendance: 1,114
Boxscore
24 June 2021 Dominican Republic  4–3  Netherlands Estadio Hermanos Serdán, Puebla
Attendance: 942
Boxscore

Semifinal

[edit]
25 June 2021 Venezuela  10–0 (7)  Netherlands Estadio Hermanos Serdán, Puebla
Attendance: 1,116
Boxscore

Final

[edit]
26 June 2021 Dominican Republic  8–5  Venezuela Estadio Hermanos Serdán, Puebla
Attendance: 2,691
Boxscore

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Joint Statement from the International Olympic Committee and the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee". IOC. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  2. ^ a b "(Premier12) S. Korea beats Mexico to qualify for 2020 Olympic baseball tournament | Yonhap News Agency". En.yna.co.kr. 15 November 2019. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  3. ^ "Baseball Americas Qualifier 2021 – The official site – WBSC". olympicbaseballqualifier.wbsc.org. Archived from the original on 31 May 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b c "WBSC announces hosts, dates of Tokyo 2020 Olympic Baseball/Softball Qualifiers". 20 January 2019. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2019.
  5. ^ a b "WBSC reveal groups and schedule for Baseball Americas Olympic Qualifier". 20 November 2019. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  6. ^ "WBSC Olympic baseball qualifiers to be staged in June in Florida and Taichung/TPE". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 16 March 2021. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Tokyo 2020 Olympics: WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier to be staged from 31 May to 5 June in The Palm Beaches & St. Lucie County, Florida". World Baseball Softball Confederation. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  8. ^ a b "WBSC Baseball Final Qualifier for Tokyo 2020 moved from Taiwan to Mexico". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 20 May 2021. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  9. ^ "2019 Stats Leader Board" Archived 22 September 2019 at the Wayback Machine, olympicbaseballqualifier.wbsc.org.
  10. ^ "Baseball Europe/Africa Qualifier" Archived 2 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine, wbsc.org.
  11. ^ "U.S. baseball team clinches slot in Tokyo with aid of MLB veterans". Reuters. 6 June 2021. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Olympic baseball qualifying tournament in Surprise, Tempe postponed due to coronavirus". USA Today. 12 March 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Baseball Americas Qualifier 2021 – The official site – WBSC". olympicbaseballqualifier.wbsc.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Baseball Americas Qualifier 2021 – The official site – WBSC". olympicbaseballqualifier.wbsc.org. Archived from the original on 7 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Tokyo 2020: Two Baseball spots still up for grabs". WBSC. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  16. ^ "Final Baseball Qualifier: Australia confirmed as Oceania representative". WBSC. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  17. ^ "Final Olympic Baseball Qualifier postponed to June". WBSC. Archived from the original on 17 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  18. ^ "Final Olympic Baseball Qualifier postponed to a date TBD". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 25 March 2020. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  19. ^ "Final Olympic Baseball Qualifier to run 22–26 June in Puebla, Mexico". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 28 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  20. ^ "Final WBSC Olympic baseball qualifier to be five-team tourney as China withdraws". World Baseball Softball Confederation. 7 May 2021. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  21. ^ "Olympics-Taiwan pulls out of baseball qualifying tournament over COVID-19 fears". Reuters. 3 June 2021. Archived from the original on 3 June 2021. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  22. ^ "TEAM AUSTRALIA WITHDRAWS FROM FINAL QUALIFIER". Baseball Australia. 7 May 2021. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
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