Hey, we noticed you're in Canada but are currently viewing our US site. Would you like us to take you to the Canadian site, or do you want to stay on the US site?
Picking up what we're putting down? We thought you might be. Sign up for our free 4x-weekly newsletter to get "the gist" of what's going on in the sports world in less than 5 minutes.
Subscribe
The GIST
ListenSubscribe
Filter by

What you need to know about Olympics Softball & Baseball

July 21, 2021
Sports NewsSoftballBaseball
What you need to know about Olympics Softball & Baseball

⚙️How it works: Women’s softball and men’s baseball are returning to the world stage after being nixxed from the 2012 and 2016 Games.

  • Softball: Six teams (Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico and the United States) play each other once in the group stage, with the top two moving on to the gold medal game and the next two, playing in the bronze medal game. Nice and simple.
  • Baseball: Like softball, six teams will compete, starting with a round robin within two, three-team groups. That said, organizers have introduced a slightly confusing and modified double-elimination bracket, so if you’re a visual learner, click here.

👀Who to watch: As two-time reigning softball world champs with a world No. 1 ranking, Team USA is the overwhelming favorite to win gold.

  • With major leaguers ineligible to compete, Team USA baseball is world No. 4, so while we’ll be cheering them on, we’ll keep a close eye on No. 1 Japan just in case.

👀Who to watch: As the two-time reigning softball world champs with a world No. 1 ranking, Team USA is the overwhelming favorite to win gold. However, Team Canada has a solid third place ranking and has promised to “put on a show” for us fans at home.

  • No Canadian representation in baseball, so we’ll keep our eyes on world No. 4 USA and No. 1 Japan instead.

⏰When to watch:

Back to Softball