Olympic Baseball Day 1 Historical Preview

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic baseball tournament opens on Wednesday, 28 July, at noon local time at Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium.

Host nation/top-ranked Japan and Dominican Republic will be the first of 16 total games in the event, marking 13 years since Olympic baseball was last staged.

World No. 7 Dominican Republic vs. No. 1 Japan

• In their last meeting, Japan defeated Dominican Republic 4-2 in the group stage of the 2015 Premier12. The game was 2-2 after seven innings, but Japan scored two runs in the eighth.
• Overall, Japan have claimed three medals in baseball at the Olympic Games: silver in 1996 and bronze in 1992 and 2004. They finished fourth in 2000 and 2008.
• Only Cuba (5, G3-S2-B0) and United States (3, G1-S0-B2) have won as many medals in baseball at the Olympic Games as Japan (3, G0-S1-B2).
• The Olympic host nation has only ever won one medal in baseball (USA won a bronze in 1996 in Atlanta).
• Japan won a medal in all three Olympic Games in which they started the event with a win. They missed out on the medals in both Olympic Games they started with a defeat.
• Dominican Republic's only previous participation in baseball at the Olympic Games was in 1992. They had a record of W2-L5 to finish sixth out of eight teams. The biggest of their five defeats was 17-0 against Japan in the group stage.