2004 Americas Olympic Baseball Qualifying Tournament

Two spots in the Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics were available to baseball teams of the Pan American Baseball Confederation. To decide which teams would qualify, a tournament was held in 2003 in Panama, from October 30 to November 10. The tournament was won by Cuba, with Canada also qualifying for the Olympics.

Notably, the United States team did not qualify, after losing to Mexico in the quarterfinals. This elicited shock in the American media[1] as the USA was the previous gold medal winner, and was the first country to play baseball and is the country where baseball has the largest following. The major reason for defeat was the scheduling of the tournament, which meant the Americans could not even use minor league players.

Withdrawals edit

Although the tournament was originally scheduled to include 13 teams, four withdrew before their first game: Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Aruba and the Bahamas. As the Bahamas were a last-minute withdrawal, the tournament structure was left unbalanced, with one pool larger than the other.

Pool Play edit

Pool A edit

Team Pld W L PCT RS RA
  Cuba 3 3 0 1.000 16 8
  Canada 3 2 1 0.667 18 14
  Puerto Rico 3 1 2 0.333 12 13
  Mexico 3 0 3 0.000 7 18
Winner Result Loser
  Canada 8-5   Puerto Rico
  Puerto Rico 5-1   Mexico
  Cuba 4-2   Puerto Rico
  Cuba 5-4   Mexico
  Canada 8-2   Mexico
  Cuba 7-2   Canada

Pool B edit

Team Pld W L PCT RS RA
  United States 3 3 0 1.000 20 0
  Panama 4 3 1 0.750 28 9
  Colombia 4 2 2 0.500 11 23
  Brazil 3 1 2 0.333 8 16
  Nicaragua 4 0 4 0.000 8 27
Winner Result Loser
  Panama 6-0   Colombia
  United States 7-0   Nicaragua
  Panama 11-5   Nicaragua
  Colombia 5-4   Brazil
  Panama 11-1   Brazil
  United States 10-0   Colombia
  Brazil 3-0   Nicaragua
  Colombia 6-3   Nicaragua
  United States 3-0   Panama

The game between the   United States and   Brazil was delayed due to weather. Before it could be played it became irrelevant to the standings, and was therefore cancelled.

Elimination edit

Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals
         
A1   Cuba 5
B4   Brazil 0
A1   Cuba 10
A3   Puerto Rico 0
B2   Panama 3
A3   Puerto Rico 5
A1   Cuba 5
A2   Canada 0
B1   United States 1
A4   Mexico 2
A4   Mexico 1
A2   Canada 11
A2   Canada 14
B3   Colombia 6

References edit