Los Angeles is gearing for the 2028 Summer Olympics, their third time playing host and first time since 1984, and the Dodgers are set to play a key role.
On Tuesday, the team confirmed that Dodger Stadium will host Olympic baseball in its return after an eight-year hiatus.
It was absent from the 2024 Paris Olympics, but is being re-added to the docket given baseball’s popularity in the States.
The Dodgers also hosted baseball as part of the Olympics in 1984, but it was termed an exhibition sport until 1992.
Only four countries hold gold medals in baseball — Cuba with three, and the United States, South Korea, and Japan with one each — and the sport wasn’t a part of the 2012 or 2016 programs.
It’s unclear if we’ll see Dodgers — or any other major leaguers, for that matter — compete as representatives of their national teams, given MLB’s historical unwillingness to allow their players to compete in the event, but support is growing among owners.
Either way, the Olympic Committee choosing Dodger Stadium was a no-brainer, and it’ll certainly give Dodgers brass yet another way to easily scope out international talent.
Dodgers News: Dodger Stadium to host baseball in the 2028 Olympics, Clayton Kershaw rehab assignment, Teoscar Hernández update
Clayton Kershaw, coming off of two surgeries last offseason, is set to make his return to the mound as a temporary member of the Oklahoma City Comets on Wednesday night, with a lineup full of familiar names including Hyeseong Kim, James Outman, Hunter Feduccia, and Esteury Ruiz.
It’s unclear how long the Dodgers are going to want to leave Kershaw in Triple-A, but given the recent surgeries, it wouldn’t be surprising if they kept him there for an extended stay.
He’s joining Tony Gonsolin, who made his third rehab start on Tuesday, and Evan Phillips, who’s made five appearances since April 3.
The Dodgers’ lineup was missing Teoscar Hernández on Wednesday for the second consecutive night.
Hernández has been dealing with a stomach virus (seriously, what’s up with all of these stomach bugs?), but he was present at the stadium on Wednesday night.
He’s the second Dodger to go down with an illness like this after Mookie Betts missed the Tokyo Series and a few games of the regular season, and lost almost 20 pounds in the span of a few weeks.
Hopefully, Hernández’s illness isn’t quite so severe and we’ll see him return to the lineup sometime this week.