The Super Round of the WBSC Baseball Americas Olympic Qualifier opens with two games on Friday, 4 June, which could potentially be elimination games for the National Teams that start with 0-1 records, Dominican Republic and Canada. Group winners USA and Venezuela, both 1-0 to open the round, are in control of their Olympic destinies. Here's a historical preview of Friday's games.
No. 10 Dominican Republic (0-1) vs. No. 8 Venezuela (1-0)
- Dominican Republic are hoping to qualify for the Olympic Games for the second time and the first time since the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games, where baseball debuted as an official Olympic sport.
- Venezuela have never qualified for the Olympic Games.
- These teams most recently met in a major competition at the 2017 World Baseball Classic, where Dominican Republic beat Venezuela 3-0 in the second round in front of 16,390 spectators at Petco Park in San Diego.
- Venezuela's most recent win over Dominican Republic in a major competition was 8-6 in the 2015 WBSC Premier12 first round in Taipei, Taiwan.
- Dominican Republic and Venezuela also met at the American qualifying tournament for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the last time baseball was on the Olympic programme. Venezuela beat Dominican Republic 8-2 in the final round.
- On 22 July 2018, Venezuela recorded a 4-0 round-robin win over Dominican Republic at the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games (qualifier for 2019 Pan American Games).
- Three players have hit multiple home runs for Dominican Republic at this year's WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier: Juan Francisco (3), Luís Liberato (2) and Julio Rodríguez (2). Carlos Pérez (2) is the only Venezuela player on multiple home runs this tournament.
- Venezuela won all their three games in the Opening Round, allowing only seven runs.
No. 13 Canada (0-1) vs. No. 2 USA (1-0)
- This game will be between the top-ranked nation at the WBSC Baseball Americas Qualifier and the lowest-ranked team in the Super Round.
- United States beat Canada 8-0 in the first round en route to their 2017 World Baseball Classic title. That game was the last time these nations met in a major world level competition.
- Canada are aiming to qualify for the Olympic Games for the third time, after 2004 and 2008.
- United States qualified for four of the five editions of the Olympic Games when baseball was on the programme. USA only failed to qualify for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, after being eliminated by Mexico in the American qualifying tournament quarter-finals (2-1).
- United States won the American qualifying tournament for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the last time baseball was on the Olympic programme. USA won eight of their nine games, including a 9-3 victory over Canada in the final round.
- Canada's most recent win over USA in a major competition was 7-6 (10 innings) in the 2015 Pan American Games gold medal game. Earlier that tournament, USA had beaten Canada 4-1 in the preliminary round.
