MLB and Players Union Still Without a 2028 Olympics Deal, Two Years Out

Baseball returns to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 for the first time since Beijing hosted the sport in 2008. What MLB and its players' union can't agree on is what happens to a star who gets picked for Team USA, or any national team, and then doesn't play.

The commissioner's office has proposed a rule: if you're selected and you skip the Games, you sit out two weeks of the regular season once play resumes, according to the Los Angeles Times. Star outfielder Bryce Harper tore into the proposal.

"Obviously, you're not going to suspend Bobby Witt Jr. from the Royals for two weeks," Harper told the Los Angeles Times. "They're not going to be able to win games without Bobby Witt. I don't know if ownership would be on board with that."

Harper's argument highlights the practical problem with the league's proposal. A two-week bench penalty doesn't just punish the player, it punishes the team's playoff chances, and Harper doubts owners would tolerate that kind of collateral damage to their own rosters just to enforce Olympic attendance.

MLB's position, as described by the Los Angeles Times, is straightforward: the league wants leverage to actually secure marquee names for the Games rather than relying on goodwill. The union's counter is that the league can't demand mandatory participation while ignoring the logistical asks players have made, including flexibility on accommodations, tickets and marketing rights through LA28, the international baseball federation and the International Olympic Committee.

Both sides say they want players in Los Angeles in 2028. Harper put it plainly: "There's no greater stage than the Olympics." Tarik Skubal, quoted in the reporting, said he would play in 2028 because the Olympics would take place during the MLB season rather than forcing a break like the World Baseball Classic does. Skubal withdrew from this year's World Baseball Classic after one three-inning appearance, citing his workload and health rather than the timing of the event, but said he is "all in" for the Olympics. That scheduling detail makes Olympic participation an easier sell for players wary of interrupting their own season for international competition.

Where Things Stalled

The dispute went public at the All-Star Game in July, roughly two months before this reporting. At that point, MLB said it was waiting on a counterproposal from the union. LA28 said the same. Two months later, according to the Los Angeles Times, nothing has moved. Neither side has sent the other anything new.

That stall has real consequences for planning. The NHL reached its own Olympics participation agreement with its players seven months before this year's Winter Games in Milan-Cortina. MLB, by contrast, released its entire 2027 regular-season schedule eight months ahead of that season's start, assuming next season begins on time. The comparison underscores how much lead time these deals usually take to nail down logistics like travel, insurance and roster construction.

The Labor Contract Wrinkle

Complicating things further, MLB's current collective bargaining agreement negotiations are unfolding on a separate track. Union chief Bruce Meyer said in March, on the eve of those labor talks, "If we don't have a season, we're not going to play in the Olympics," a comment that irritated league officials, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Meyer later clarified he meant that if a lockout stretched into 2028 itself, players wouldn't participate that year. He said the union isn't using the Olympics as a bargaining chip in the labor talks and insisted the two sides could reach an Olympics agreement independent of a new CBA. Whether that clarification satisfied MLB officials isn't reported.

Harper said he doesn't expect a wave of players skipping the Games. "I think you're going to have a lot of players that want to do it, that want to play on a world stage," he said. Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber have both said they would participate. Skubal, like Harper, argued the mandatory participation proposal is unnecessary, saying players will have plenty of incentive to play if they're healthy. He also called the proposal's injury-related provision — which would force even a player who recovers quickly to sit out the first two weeks after the Games — "stupid."

Neither MLB nor the union has set a public deadline for reaching an agreement. With the CBA talks running in parallel and no counterproposal exchanged as of this writing, the practical question is whether a deal gets done before scheduling and roster-planning decisions for the 2028 season have to be locked in without one.