The US Is Going For Gold Again

Baseball is back. Well, in the Olympics, at least. Thirteen years ago, the United States Men’s Baseball team took home the bronze medal in Beijing, and ever since, baseball dropped off the face of the Olympics. Mainly due to the timing of the summer Olympics, which makes sense because what all-star player would participate halfway through the season.

The U.S. last took home the gold in 2000, edging out the Cuban team for the first time and using major leaguers instead of previous years where players could not compete. Kind of ridiculous, in my opinion, to have an Olympic medal team made up of college kids, but whatever works, I guess.

The U.S. team is up against five other All-Star teams — Israel, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the Dominican Republic. While these teams feature some well-known players, the U.S. has a strong potential of taking home the gold, bias aside.

Meet The Team

The star-studded roster features some of the best from the major and minor leagues. The 24-man roster showcases 14 MLB veterans, two World Series champions and four former all-stars. While you won’t see any active MLB players from any 40-man roster, I look forward to seeing some higher-ranked prospects and former MLB favorites.  

Three of the top 100 prospects — 3B Triston Casas, RHP Simeon Woods Richardson and RHP Shane Baz — will all make appearances hoping to bolster veterans like 3B Todd Frazier and RHP David Robertson. 

Other young players like RHP Joe Ryan have been particularly impressive for the Tampa Bay Rays Triple-A affiliate the Durham Bulls these past few seasons. 

Did you know, one of the roster members already has a medal? And no, it’s not for baseball; it’s for speed skating of all sports. INF Eddy Alvarez took home the silver medal in the 2014 Winter Olympics. This is only cementing how talented the team is, and maybe if it doesn’t work out this year for us, Alvarez can take another shot at gold in the winter.

Path to Victory

The U.S. performed decently well in the Olympics, so a path to gold this year isn’t out of the question. Former Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia detailed how special this Olympics is to him during a TV interview with NBC Philadelphia.

“This is important to all of us … to put a U.S.A. jersey on and be with this group of guys with a goal of an Olympic gold medal is great,” Scioscia said. 

This is Scioscia’s first managerial role for the U.S. team, but with an impressive .536 career win percentage, he is just the right man for the job.

The U.S. won all their qualifying games, even one against the Dominican Republic. The U.S. also just wrapped up a three-game series in North Carolina, sweeping the collegiate team. By the way, just because it was a collegiate team does not mean they were easy competition. The roster featured 1B Jacob Berry, one of the best freshman hitters I’ve seen in a while, OF Drew Gilbert, whose accomplishments this season for the University of Tennessee take 10 minutes to read, and RF Gavin Cross, who led Virginia Tech this year with his .345 batting average and .621 slugging percentage. Wow. 

The U.S. held this college All-Star team to five runs across three games, while the US scored 14 runs. The U.S. seemed confident and collected these games, and honestly, it’s been a joy seeing this team compete, even if many would not care to watch a bunch of veterans or prospects play versus the New York Yankees or the Los Angeles Dodgers.

All the players on the U.S. team stepped up the past few games, displaying well-rounded talent. In my opinion, I haven’t seen a weak link on the team yet, which is critical going into these first few games.

The bullpen has shown reliability over the past seven pre-season and qualifying games. However, the only struggle down the line could come in the form of hitting. The U.S. was held to one run on Monday by the collegiate team and had a shaky start against the Dominican Republic, finally coming back in the fifth inning. The U.S. still managed to put up impressive run numbers, and hopefully, that will carry into the first couple of games.

To start their Olympic run, the U.S. will face Israel and South Korea. Israel qualified in 2019, going 5-0 against other European teams and practically blowing everyone out of the water. South Korea, coming second in their 2019 qualifying run, also held its own against other giants like Mexico and the U.S. Both teams come with their own challenges for the U.S.; however, with how prepared the U.S. has been these past few games, it’s hard to imagine them having a complete collapse.

This year, the U.S. has to give it their all, mainly because baseball is not returning in the 2024 Olympics, and with their impressive roster and competent management, I think they have all the tools to go and win their third gold.

The U.S. will kick off their Olympic run on July 31 against Israel at 6 a.m Eastern Standard Time.

Cover photo courtesy of Mark Brown/Getty Images