Get ready for a MLB midsummer break that could be really long three years from now.
Earlier today, Josh’s BCB After Dark asked you if you want to see MLB players in the 2028 Olympics, where the baseball competition will take place July 15-20 in Los Angeles.
The poll vote there, at this writing, is about 50-50.
Per this article by Susan Slusser in the San Francisco Chronicle, that seems like a strong possibility, because MLB might place the All-Star Game that year in Oracle Park, a short plane ride to Los Angeles:
The momentum appears to be in favor of allowing Olympic participation, coinciding with a longer All-Star break — and in that case, one league source told the Chronicle, the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park would be the front-runner for the All-Star Game.
The league and union would want an All-Star location on the West Coast in order to get the sport’s stars to Los Angeles easily rather than having to go cross-country, and San Diego, Seattle and Arizona all have played host to the event more recently than San Francisco, so too have L.A. and Anaheim and the league does not wish to be in L.A. or Orange County with the Olympics underway.
To have an All-Star break of the usual length plus the six days blocked out for Olympic baseball, the MLB schedule in 2028 might have to be interrupted for up to 10 days. This could create some issues with the players NOT chosen for All-Star teams or to play for their countries in the Olympics.
Personally, I think this is a great idea. Not the long break — and I’ll get to that — but for the chance to see baseball competition in the Olympics with the world’s best players, in the middle of their season instead of in March, when the World Baseball Classic is played. Yes, the WBC is a great event and of course I want to see it continued, but the Olympics get quite a bit more attention and I think MLB players would love to participate. Sometimes the WBC gets a bit lost trying to compete with the NCAA’s March Madness, and this would focus the world’s attention on baseball and its best players.
Now, about that 10-day break. We’d likely see perhaps half of MLB players, maybe a bit more, not chosen for All-Star teams or Olympic rosters (or both). To keep baseball going in MLB cities during that time, perhaps exhibition games could be scheduled, just to keep interest going and keep players in shape. The four-day All-Star break is already a day longer than it was 20+ years ago; adding another six days to that could be problematic, unless some games were played during that time.
Or, the league could just dump the All-Star Game in 2028 and just have a six-day break for players to participate in the Olympics. Here, though, per Slusser, is the reason that won’t happen, and as you might guess, the reason is money:
The All-Star Game is a huge money-maker for cities, with Atlanta and its surrounding areas expected to reap $100 million or more during this year’s edition.
Get ready for some interesting discussion about this. What do you think?