Baseball in Olympics

The baseball events of the 29th Olympic Games will be organized at the Wukesong Baseball Field in Beijing from August 13-23, 2008.

Teams Participating
Teams taking part in baseball competition are Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Japan, South Korea, Netherlands and United States.

Schedule of Events

August 13
Matches will be held between Netherlands-Chinese Taipei, United States-South Korea, Canada-China and Japan-Cuba.

August 14
Matches will take place between United States-Netherlands, Canada-Cuba, China-South Korea and Japan-Chinese Taipei.

August 15
Matches will be held between Chinese Taipei-China, South Korea-Canada, Cuba-United States and Netherlands-Japan.

August 16
Matches will be organized between Canada-United States, Netherlands-China, Chinese Taipei-Cuba, and South Korea-Japan.

August 18
Matches will be held between Japan-Canada, Netherlands-Cuba, South Korea-Chinese Taipei, and China-United States.

August 19
Games will be held between Canada-Netherlands, China-Japan, Cuba-South Korea, and Chinese Taipei-United States.

August 20
Matches will take place between China-Cuba, Chinese Taipei-Canada, South Korea-Netherlands and Japan-United States.

August 22 and 23
Semifinals and Finals

Format
Eight teams are competing in the Olympic baseball tournament, and the competition consists of two rounds. A round robin format is followed by the preliminary round, where each of the teams plays all the other teams once. Following this, the top four teams move to a page playoff system round culminating in the bronze and gold medal games.

The Umpire
One or more umpires have been appointed to officiate at each league championship game. The umpires are responsible for the conduct of the game according to the official rules and for maintaining discipline and order on the playing field.

The Official Scorer
An official scorer has been appointed for each league championship game. He observes the game from a position in the press box. The scorer has sole authority to make all decisions involving judgment. He communicates such decisions to the press box and broadcasting booths by hand signals or over the press box loud speaker system.