Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said the league remains committed to the World Baseball Classic, and later watched Houston Astros outfielder Norichika Aoki compete for Samurai Japan.
He sounded less optimistic about the chance MLB will send any of its stars back to Tokyo in four years for the 2020 Olympics.
"There have not been any substantive discussions with the baseball and softball confederation about participation of major league players in the 2020 Olympics," Manfred said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on Tuesday. "I'm sure that those conversations will take place. We have not even been informed about what exactly the format of the event is going to be, how many days would be involved and whatnot.