Bryce Harper showing inclination to represent US at 2028 Olympics makes MLB boss Rob Manfred open to allowing big league players in Los Angeles

When MLB commissioner Rob Manfred took his role in early 2015, there were 230 players on opening day rosters born outside the USA. By 2024, that number had nearly doubled.

Part of Manfred's mission as commissioner is to grow the international appeal and reputation of baseball. Recently, the league's top executive hinted that MLB players could be poised to take the biggest international stage yet.

In the pre-game media scrum ahead of the 94th All-Star Game on Tuesday, Manfred was asked by MLB Network about the possibility of sending players to the 2028 Olympics. While Rob Manfred did not explicitly offer an insight on his plan, the 65 year-old said that "the fact that the players want to play is a really significant input on the issue."

"Will we see MLB players representing their countries in the Olympics 2028? Rob Manfred: "The fact that the players want to play is a really significant input on the issue."" - MLB Network Radio on Xirius XM

Manfed's comments come after Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper called upon the league to let players go. Harper claimed "the Olympics is something that you dream about playing in."

Baseball was first innaugurated as an Olympic medal sport in 1992, and remained as such until 2008, when it was dropped. Despite being re-introduced at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, MLB never allowed players on the 40-man roster to attend.

Given the fact that the Summer Olympics typically happen in the middle of the season, some major scheduling alterations would need to be implemented. However, that might be a small price to pay if Manfred can actualize tangible results from sending stars like Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, or Ronald Acuna Jr. to the Olympics.

"Should MLB pause the season for the next Summer Olympics to allow Major League players to take part?" - Foul Territory

Under Manfred's administration, the World Baseball Classic has been aggressively promoted. The 2023 tournament saw record viewership, with over 55 million people in Japan alone tuning in to watch Shohei Ohtani strike out Los Angeles Angels teammate Mike Trout to win Gold for his country.

Rob Manfred remains cautiously optimistic about sending MLB stars to Olympics

In February, Casey Wasserman, the chair of the LA 2028 Olympic Committee, gave a presentation to league executives about the logistics of having MLB players at the Olympics. Following the presentation, Manfred was optimistic, but still apparently hesitant to offer any sort of commitment, telling the BBWAA:

“I sat with Casey last week. We’re talking about what can be done? What exactly would it look like? What are the compromises that we would have to make in terms of our season? So I remain open-minded on that topic”

While it would be an incredible sight to see the game's top stars at the Oympics, a lot of challenges remain in the past. It is likely that Rob Manfred is under no illusions about that.