Japan Bookies Favorites to Win Baseball Olympics

By Tony Samboras
Updated: August 6, 2021

Baseball and softball were withdrawn by the International Olympic Committee in 2005 from the 2012 Olympic Games. The decision meant that baseball and softball became the first sports since polo in 1936 to be removed from the Olympic program. Baseball is more than a century old in the Olympics, beginning with the St Louis Games in 1904.

Baseball returns to the Olympic Games in 2021, for the first time since 2008. After more than a decade off the race, the sport will be back and the bookmakers have Japan as the firm favorite to win gold. The event this time around for all competitors is providing a new type of challenge due to the pandemic, but so far there have only been a few cases. In this article, I will go through the teams competing along with the odds of them winning.

Who Are The Bookmakers’ Favorites?

Japan and South Korea are the favorites with bookmakers to win gold in the Japanese Olympics. The U.S. features on its team a fair mix of semi-retired leading league players, which is not what the others are doing. This is why they are not the favorites for the tournament. Mexico, Israel, and the Dominican Republic are big outsiders and are not expected to reach the finals. The best betting odds for baseball teams and bonus code when registering for a welcome promotion can be found via Virginia online sports betting.

? Japan:-Betting Odds +150

? South Korea:-Betting Odds +300

? United States:-Betting Odds +300

? Dominican Republic:-Betting Odds +600

? Mexico-Betting Odds +1000

? Israel-Betting Odds +2500

Who Are the Teams Involved?

This was the first time that Cuba had not qualified for a major tournament since baseball became a medal sport in 1992. Japan is hosting the event that also includes the US, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, and the Dominican Republic.

How Does The Competition Work?

The Baseball Olympics start with the group stage, featuring two groups of three teams each. Each team will play a round-robin program — i.e., in a group, each team in the same group will face the other two teams for a total of six matches. Teams are classified according to the group results and the knockout round starts.

Final Thoughts

Japan was able to get off to a winning start by beating the Dominican Republic 4-4, so they are on track to qualify for the knockout stages. It would be a surprise to see them not make the final considering they have home support. South Korea is the biggest threat, and they were also able to get off to a winning start by beating Israel 6-5 in their opening game. You cannot write about the USA completely, however, as they are capable of pulling off a big shock.