Bryce Harper wants to play for Team USA, may not be possible
By Brad Weiss
Baseball is headed back to the Olympics in 2020, and Bryce Harper wants to be a part of it.
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Bryce Harper plays professional baseball in our nation’s capital, a city that bursts with the colors red, white, and blue. Playing for the Washington Nationals, Harper has made a name for himself as arguably the best young player in Major League Baseball, and is one of the faces of the league.
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, baseball will make its return as an Olympic sport. The last time baseball was in the Olympics was in 2008, but the IOC announced it will be returning on Wednesday. In 2008, South Korea won the Olympic gold medal in baseball, with Cuba and the United States taking the silver and bronze, respectively.
In addition to baseball being added, skateboarding, softball, surfing, karate, and sport climbing.
Upon hearing the news, Harper took to Instagram, expressing his desire to represent his country at the 2020 Olympic Games.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BIrH5GhA3bT/
The issue with baseball being in the Olympics is that it would coincide with Major League Baseball’s regular season, making it almost impossible for teams to let their best players leave for two weeks to compete. It is possible baseball could suspend the season, but that would just elongate an already very long baseball season.
That may be a moot point anyway, as it does not seem everyone shares Harper’s enthusiasm to play for a gold medal. It could be the lengthening of the season, as baseball already has the most amount of games as any of the other major sports. Representing your country is usually a once in a lifetime thing, so the possibility of playing in the Games should attract at least a few stars.
Those Olympics are still a ways away, and baseball has plenty of time to see how they will attack the issue. For Harper, he is at least hoping for a chance to add a gold medal to his already impressive list of accomplishments in the game of baseball.