It’s an All-Star Night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in and sit with us for a while. There’s no cover charge. We still have a few good tables available. Bring your own beverage.
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited
to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.
The National League beat the American League 6-6 thanks to a “Swing-off,” or a mini Home Run Derby to break the tie. Kyle Schwarber won the MVP Award for three home runs in the “Swing-off.” I’m pretty sure he’s the first All-Star MVP who went 0 for 2 with a walk.
Pete Crow-Armstrong was 1 for 2 with a double. Kyle Tucker went 0 for 2 with a strikeout, but he made a great defensive catch in left field.
Last night I asked you about your favorite part of All-Star Week. The event seems to have lost its luster as 40 percent of you said “Four days off the regular season” was your favorite part of it. Thirty-three percent of you picked the actual game itself. I don’t know what you thought of the “swing-off.”
On Tuesday nights/Wednesday morning, I don’t write about movies. But I always have time for jazz, so here it is. You can skip it if you want. You won’t hurt my feelings.
Tonight we’re featuring Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana performing at Cal State-Northridge in 2023. Playing with Aldana is Gadi Lehavi on piano, Pablo Menares on bass and Kush Abadey on drums.
This is “Los Ojos de Chile.”
Welcome back to everyone who skips all that jazz.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred was asked this week about the possibility of letting MLB players compete for their countries at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Manfred said that it would be a great chance to market the game internationally, but that there were logistical hurdles to be overcome first and that all the involved stakeholders (owners, union, Olympic committees) would have to sign off on it.
MLB created the World Baseball Classic as a way to bring the excitement of international competition to baseball, akin to the World Cups in soccer. While there have been a lot of praise and criticism of the WBC, the most recent one in 2023 certainly captured the imagination of America like no other baseball event in recent years with events like Angels teammates Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani facing off in the final at-bat in the finals. And of course, the event was must-watch TV in Japan and other competing nations.
But nothing moves the international needle more than the Olympics. It’s an event that is watched in every country in the world. Nations spend tremendous resources to win medals and to gain the bragging rights that go with it. Being an Olympic sport also comes with a great deal of financial support around the world. Many countries have ministries that support sports and athletes financially, and Olympic sports generally get almost all the money.
Now baseball is an Olympic sport in 2028 and was one back in 2021 as well. But that’s because the host countries are allowed to pick a few sports to add to the competition and Tokyo and Los Angeles picked baseball. The 2032 Olympics will be held in Brisbane, Australia, and it seems unlikely that Australia will use one of their host country sport spots on baseball, a sport they wouldn’t be expected to medal in.
What MLB and the Baseball/Softball Federation would like is for baseball to be made a permanent sport at the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee has made it clear that the biggest obstacle standing in the way of the sports receiving a permanent slot on the program is that the best players in the world, those who compete in MLB, are not allowed to participate.
So MLB is considering letting players compete in Los Angeles to see how it goes. It helps that travel to Los Angeles for the players would be not be a big deal.
But there are non-travel related obstacles. For one, MLB would have to shut down for at least a week in the middle of summer. Baseball at the 2028 Olympics would be held from July 15th through the 20th at Dodger Stadium. That’s just when MLB wants to hold the All-Star Game and Manfred has made it clear that just cancelling the All-Star Game for one year doesn’t work for them because of the financial hit they would take from the lost revenue. So MLB would have to shut down long enough to hold an All-Star Game and then shut down for six more days. Plus probably one day for travel to LA and day back. So if MLB lets players play in the Olympics, it would probably mean shutting down for at least 10 days and maybe as many as 12.
MLB has also made it clear that they are committed to a 162-game schedule, so the sport would have to figure out a way to get in all those games with the long mid-July break and still finish the World Series by the first days of November.
So MLB would have to get creative to get this done. But as Manfred said, nothing moves a sport internationally more than the Olympics. MLB would like to get people outside of North America, the Caribbean and the Pacific Rim playing the sport. As awesome as the WBC is, it doesn’t move the needle like the Olympics might be able to.
So what’s your thought? Would you like to see MLB players in the Olympics in 2028? Do you want to see Pete Crow-Armstrong play in his hometown with a “USA” on his chest? Or do you think it’s best to leave well-enough alone and continue to try to promote the sport internationally apart from the Olympics.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed yourself this evening. I hope whatever you people in the back were doing with what you called a “swig-off” didn’t get out of hand. Get home safely. Call a ride if you need to. Recycle your cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow night for more BCB After Dark.
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