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Baseball, Men

Date17 – 27 September 2000
StatusOlympic
LocationBlacktown Baseball Stadium, Blacktown Olympic Park, Blacktown, New South Wales / Sydney Baseball Stadium, Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Participants192 from 8 countries
FormatRound-robin tournament followed by semi-finals and final.

Cuba was still the dominant international team, but less so than in 1992 and 1996. Several of the Cuban players were defecting to the United States, lured by huge dollars from Major League baseball teams. And the International Baseball Association (IBA) opened up the Olympic tournament to professionals. Major league baseball did not release its players, however, so the USA team was made up of minor leaguers, several of whom were former Major Leaguers. The United States’ manager was Tommy Lasorda, formerly manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The first sign of Cuba’s weakness was shown in the round-robin play. The Dutch team upset the Cubans 4-2, with a 3-RBI double by former Major League player Hensley Meulens accounting for Cuba’s first ever Olympic defeat.

The final game saw the USA play Cuba, with Ben Sheets pitching for the Americans. He threw a 3-hit complete game shutout, and the United States won, 4-0. Lasorda, who had managed two World Series’ champions with the Dodgers, later commented that nothing could compare to winning an Olympic gold medal.

PosNumberTeamNOC
1United StatesUSAGold
2CubaCUBSilver
3Republic of KoreaKORBronze
4JapanJPN
5NetherlandsNED
6ItalyITA
7AustraliaAUS
8South AfricaRSA

Round-Robin

Date17 – 24 September 2000
FormatRound-robin pool.
PosTeamNOCWinsLossesPointsRuns
1CubaCUB611250-17
2United StatesUSA611242-14
3Republic of KoreaKOR43840-26
4JapanJPN43841-23
5NetherlandsNED34619-29
6ItalyITA25433-43
7AustraliaAUS25430-41
8South AfricaRSA16211-73
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Game #117 Sep 11:30CubaCUB3 – 0South AfricaRSA7-inning mercy rule
Game #217 Sep 12:30United StatesUSA0 – 0JapanJPN13-innings
Game #317 Sep 18:30Republic of KoreaKOR0 – 0ItalyITA
Game #417 Sep 19:30NetherlandsNED0 – 0AustraliaAUS
Game #518 Sep 11:30CubaCUB2 – 0ItalyITA
Game #618 Sep 12:30AustraliaAUS1 – 1Republic of KoreaKOR
Game #718 Sep 18:30United StatesUSA2 – 1South AfricaRSA7-inning mercy rule
Game #818 Sep 19:30JapanJPN1 – 0NetherlandsNED
Game #919 Sep 11:30ItalyITA2 – 0South AfricaRSA7-inning mercy rule
Game #1019 Sep 12:30JapanJPN1 – 0AustraliaAUS
Game #1119 Sep 18:30United StatesUSA2 – 1NetherlandsNED
Game #1219 Sep 19:30CubaCUB0 – 2Republic of KoreaKOR
Game #1320 Sep 11:30JapanJPN0 – 1ItalyITA
Game #1420 Sep 12:30NetherlandsNED0 – 1CubaCUB
Game #1520 Sep 18:30AustraliaAUS1 – 0South AfricaRSA
Game #1620 Sep 19:30United StatesUSA0 – 0Republic of KoreaKOR
Game #1722 Sep 11:30Republic of KoreaKOR2 – 0NetherlandsNED
Game #1822 Sep 12:30CubaCUB0 – 0AustraliaAUS
Game #1922 Sep 18:30JapanJPN3 – 0South AfricaRSA
Game #2022 Sep 19:30United StatesUSA2 – 0ItalyITA
Game #2123 Sep 11:30South AfricaRSA0 – 0NetherlandsNED10-innings
Game #2223 Sep 12:30Republic of KoreaKOR4 – 2JapanJPN10-innings
Game #2323 Sep 18:30ItalyITA0 – 0AustraliaAUS12-innings
Game #2423 Sep 19:30CubaCUB4 – 0United StatesUSA
Game #2524 Sep 11:30NetherlandsNED2 – 0ItalyITA
Game #2624 Sep 12:30Republic of KoreaKOR0 – 0South AfricaRSA8-inning mercy rule
Game #2724 Sep 18:30CubaCUB0 – 0JapanJPN
Game #2824 Sep 19:30United StatesUSA0 – 0AustraliaAUS7-inning mercy rule

Semi-Finals

Date26 – 27 September 2000
FormatSingle-elimination.
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Game #126 Sep 12:30CubaCUB0 – 0JapanJPN
Game #226 Sep 19:30United StatesUSA0 – 0Republic of KoreaKOR

Final Round

Date27 September 2000
FormatMedal round.
MatchDate/TimeTeamNOCResultTeamNOC
Game 1/227 Sep 19:30United StatesUSA1 – 0CubaCUB
Game 3/427 Sep 12:30Republic of KoreaKOR0 – 0JapanJPN