Baseball/Softball - Team United States

General
The United States of America did not take the longest route to qualify for Tokyo, but they did take longer than they would have liked to secure a berth at their fifth Olympic Games.

The US team failed at their first chance to qualify via the 2019 WBSC Premier 12 event when they came up against Mexico in the bronze medal match. Despite the US leading 2-1 in the ninth inning and three outs away from claiming a ticket to Tokyo, Mexico's Matt Clark - who had represented the US earlier in his career - hit a home run to tie the scores, and Mexico went on to win the game in extra innings.

The WBSC Premier 12 defeat might have brought back memories of the US team's failure to qualify for the 2004 Olympic Games at the hands of Mexico, but this time they still had another chance. They would have to wait nearly two years, however, until June 2021, to secure their place in Tokyo via the Americas qualifying event, which they won on home soil in Florida.

When baseball made its debut as an Olympic medal sport in 1992, the US team finished fourth after losing the bronze medal match to Japan. Four years later on home soil at Atlanta 1996, they lost to Japan again, this time in the semifinals, but bounced back to trounce Nicaragua 10-3 to claim bronze.

The US team's first, and only, Olympic gold medal in baseball came at the 2000 Games. They dispatched Republic of Korea in the semifinals before defeating Cuba 4-0 to claim gold. After the disappointment of missing Athens in 2004, the US team made their Olympic return in 2008, but their progress in Beijing was halted by a 10-2 semifinal thrashing at the hands of Cuba, leaving the US to beat Japan for bronze.

Outside the Olympic arena, the US team have claimed four World Cup titles and one World Baseball Classic title, and have participated at both editions of the new flagship world tournament, the WBSC Premier 12. At the 2015 edition they claimed silver after losing the final 8-0 to Republic of Korea, and in 2019 they finished fourth after their loss to Mexico in the bronze medal game.