Canada doesn’t qualify for 2028 Olympics in baseball

After reaching the second round of the World Baseball Classic for the first time in 2026, Canada won’t be able to build on its momentum at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

With spots up for grabs at the 2028 Games for the highest two finishers from the Americas at the WBC — excluding the host United States — Canada remained in the mix despite losing in the quarterfinals on Friday

Canada joined the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela as the four Americas teams to advance to the knockout round at the WBC, meaning the two teams that advanced the furthest in the tournament would claim the Olympic berths

After the Dominicans beat Korea on Saturday and Canada lost to the U.S., the Canadians still had a path to the six-team Olympics qualify via tiebreaker, but only if both Puerto Rico and Venezuela lost.

And while Puerto Rico fell to the upstart Italians, Venezuela delivered an upset over Japan, earning the second spot in the WBC semifinals and the 2028 Olympics.

Two more participants in the Olympics will be determined at the WBSC Premier12 in 2027, where the highest-placed Asian team and the top team from Europe or Oceania will each take a spot.

The final spot will go to the winner of a six-team Olympic qualifier, which will be staged no later than March 2028. The participants in that tournament will include two teams from the 2027 European Championship, two from the 2027 Asian Championship, the African champion and the highest-placed eligible team from the Oceania Championship.

Canada last competed at the Summer Olympics in 2008, when it finished sixth in Beijing. It finished fourth at the 2004 Games in Athens, following an inspired run to the bronze-medal game.

Team Canada also participated in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, when baseball was just a demonstration sport.