Report: MLB, MLBPA Sent Letter Backing Baseball, Softball's Return at 2028 Olympics

MLB wants to see the return of Olympic baseball.

MLB and the MLB Players' Association wrote a joint letter in July supporting the return of baseball and softball to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to The Athletic's Evan Drellich.

Drellich added that the league had not yet committed as to whether MLB players would be allowed to participate. The Los Angeles Olympics are set to take place from July 14-30, 2028.

Baseball, introduced to the Olympics in 1992, and softball, added to the Games in 1996, were both removed from the Summer Olympics in 2012.

The two sports temporarily returned in Tokyo 2020 but are not slated to take place at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Next week, the International Olympic Committee will review a proposal to add baseball and softball, among other sports, to the 2028 program.

Other additions to the 2028 program proposed by Los Angeles organizers for IOC Executive Board consideration include men's and women's flag football, cricket, lacrosse and squash.

The IOC's voting session will take place from October 14-16. The committee has already expressed support toward the proposed additions.

"These sports are fully in line with the sports culture of our host in 2028, with the American sports culture," IOC President Thomas Bach said Friday, per Sports Business Journal's Rachel Axon. "They will showcase iconic American sports to the world while at the same time bringing international sports to the United States."

The initial program announced by the IOC in February 2022 included 28 sports, three of which (skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing) were, like baseball and softball, added on a temporary basis to the Tokyo 2020 program.

During the Tokyo Olympics, which took place in late July 2021 due to the Games' pandemic postponement, MLB prohibited teams from sending any players on their 40-man rosters to Tokyo.

That's been the case for all of baseball Olympic history. Although the Games began allowing professional players to join in 2000, MLB blocked active league players from competing in Australia 2000, Greece 2004 or Beijing 2008. That's part of the reason the IOC voted to exclude the sport in 2005.

The MLB's backing of Olympic baseball could be a sign the league is considering changing that stance, which would be a major boost to the sport's chances of sticking around in the Olympics.