Bryce Harper Wants MLB Players to Participate in Tokyo Olympics

Major League Baseball has yet to set a start date for the 2020 season, but Phillies outfielder Bryce Harper already has his sights set on 2021.

Harper said he would like MLB players to participate in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, calling the exclusion of professionals “such a travesty.”

"It is such a travesty to me," Harper said on Barstool Sports' Starting 9 podcast. "The 2020 Olympics, in Japan. And you're not sending big league guys? Are you kidding me? You want to grow the game as much as possible and you're not going to let us play in the Olympics because you don't want to [lose] out on money for a two-week period? OK, that's dumb."

Baseball will return to the Olympics in 2021 after a 13-year hiatus. South Korea won gold in Beijing in 2008, and the United States won its lone gold medal in baseball in 2000.

Harper stressed the possibility for growth in international interest if MLB players took the field in Tokyo in 2021

"You have [Shohei] Ohtani going back playing for Japan, facing Mike Trout," Harper said. "Can you imagine being in a foreign country, standing on the line, listening to your anthem blare? Dude, there is nothing better. It fires me up sitting here. There's nothing better."

The World Baseball Classic has recently served as baseball’s international showcase. The 2021 WBC is slated to be held from March 9 through March 21.