CARY, North Carolina, USA – Mike Scioscia will take over as the third U.S. manager in the current Olympic cycle and will try to qualify for the Tokyo Games this summer.
The American Baseball Federation on Tuesday announced the hiring of the Los Angeles Angelino ex-pilot. Scioscia will lead a team of minor league players in a pre-Olympic tournament to be held in Florida next June.
Joe Girardi resigned as manager of the US national team in October 2019 after receiving offers to lead in the Major Leagues. Scott Brosius took over the leadership of the national team. Girardi was hired by the Philadelphia Philistines.
The United States was three outs away from accessing Olympic baseball in November 2019, at the Premier12 tournament in Tokyo, when a Matt Clark homer against Brandon Dickson, an expitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, opened the scoring. down from the ninth inning. Efren Navarro connected on a single against Caleb Thielbar to tow the race to victory in the tenth, and Mexico beat the United States 3-2 to seal their first Olympic passport.
Scioscia, 62, racked up a 1650-1428 mark as manager of the Angelinos between 2000-18, leading them to the 2002 World Series championship.
The United States will face the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Nicaragua in Group A of the Tournament of the Americas, with the top two advancing to a super round against two Group B teams, consisting of Canada, Colombia, Cuba and Venezuela. . The winner of the super round will join Japan, Israel, Mexico and South Korea in the Olympic tournament, to be played between July 28 and August 7 in Fukushima and Yokohama.
Only players who are not on the rosters of 26 players in the Major Leagues or on the injured list may be called up for the Tournament of the Americas.
Teams finishing second and third will advance to a final round in June in Taiwan, clashing with Australia, China, the Netherlands and Taiwan.
Baseball returns to the Olympic program after being ruled out for the 2012 and 2016 events. Cuba was awarded the gold medal in 1992, 1996 and 2004, the United States in 2000 and South Korea in 2008.
It goes without saying that baseball will once again be out of the program for the 2024 Games in Paris, but would be reinstated by 2028 in Los Angeles.