Major League Baseball superstar Bryce Harper had some strong words last week about baseball and the Olympics during an interview with a podcast on Barstool Sports.
According to Harper, he isn’t very happy with the current Major League Baseball system that doesn’t allow for its best starts to participate in the Summer Olympic games in detriment to the regular season schedule.
Baseball was featured in the Summer Olympic Games from 1992 until 2008, but the IOC then voted against its inclusion in the 2012 and 2016 versions of the games.
However, it was re-included in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has caused the disruption and cancellation of sports around the globe.
Harper had strong words for the league, stating, “The 2020 Olympics, in Japan. And you’re not sending big league guys? Are you kidding me? You want to grow the game as much as possible and you’re not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don’t want to [lose] out on money for a two-week period? OK, that’s dumb.”
Currently, only amateur players are allowed to take part in the competition.
Perhaps there is time for Major League Baseball to rectify its stance and allow its best players to take place in the re-inclusion of the event in next summer’s games.
