Baseball will not be reinstated for 2020 Olympics

Once again, baseball will not be on the Olympics docket when the games go to Japan in 2020.

Tokyo's winning bid was announced on Saturday, and despite the fact that some thought baseball would be reinstated because of the sport's popularity in the host country, the International Olympic Committee on Sunday chose to reinstate wrestling for 2020 over baseball/softball and squash.

Baseball and softball were eliminated from the Olympics in 2005, effective at the '12 games in London.

"While we are obviously disappointed with the decision of the International Olympic Committee to not move forward with baseball and softball for inclusion on the Olympic program in 2020, we continue to believe the combined efforts of baseball and softball provide a great platform for international competition and we look forward to continuing our joint efforts of growing baseball and softball worldwide," said USA Baseball executive director and CEO Paul Seiler. "USA Baseball will continue to promote baseball and softball both internationally and domestically through our various initiatives, and we look forward to the opportunity to return to the Olympic program in the future. In the meantime, we want to thank our partners and fans for their support of our joint efforts."

Wrestling received 49 votes, baseball/softball 24 and squash 22.

Japan won the first two World Baseball Classics, which have taken over as the pre-eminent international baseball event.