Baseball-Softball is one of five additional sports set to feature at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
The IOC approved the inclusion of baseball-softball in LA28 last year, along with lacrosse sixes, flag football, T20 cricket and squash.
Baseball is thought to have been developed in England in the middle of the 1700s, before it made its way to the United States by the 1770s. The first organised professional league was founded in 1875.
Softball, meanwhile, was imagined as "indoor baseball" in the late 1880s in Chicago, before different versions of the game were eventually unified and rules were codified as modern softball in 1926.
This will be the seventh time men's baseball and sixth time women's softball has appeared at the Olympic Games.
- What we learned: Softball wrap-up from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
- What we learned: Baseball wrap-up from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games
When was baseball-softball previously at the Olympics?
Baseball featured several times on the Olympic programme as a demonstration sport before being included as a medal event at the Olympic Games Barcelona 1992.
Cuba won the gold medal on the sport’s competitive debut and three times in total before it was removed from the programme following the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.
Softball was introduced at the Olympic Games Atlanta 1996 as a women-only medal sport, with the United States winning the sport’s inaugural gold medal. They won the subsequent two titles and enjoyed a 22-game winning streak from September 2000 before they were beaten by Japan in the final in 2008.
Originally considered separate sports at the Olympics, baseball-softball made its return as a combined sport with two distinct events (men's baseball and women's softball) at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, where hosts Japan won both gold medals.
What is the baseball-softball format for LA28?
The traditional versions of baseball and fastpitch softball, with international rules, will be played at LA28, as they have been in previous Games the sports appeared in.
That means the usual nine or seven innings, but any game going to extra innings will see runners placed on first and second base every extra half-inning.
What are the baseball and softball venues at LA28?
The baseball venues for LA28 are yet to be confirmed.
As part of its sustainability pledge, the LA Games are set to use 100 per cent existing and temporary venues for the Olympics.
That means the softball tournament will be played at the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex in Oklahoma City, a dedicated facility built for softball.
"It's a state of the art facility," two-time Olympic silver medallist Monica Abbott told Olympics.com.
"It's the home of USA Softball; it's double decker seating; it's a true softball field, whereas in times in the past we've had to play in baseball stadiums."
What is the baseball-softball schedule at LA28?
The schedule for the baseball and softball tournaments will be finalised closer to the Games.
Which nations are baseball-softball powerhouses?
In men's baseball, Cuba, Chinese Taipei, Japan, USA, Republic of Korea, Australia, and Dominican Republic have won Olympic medals, although there are also strong teams from other Latin American countries including Mexico and Venezuela, and an ever-improving European core – both Great Britain and Czechia performed well at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, while Netherlands have played at four Olympic tournaments.
Meanwhile, the same teams tend to perform well in women's softball, as well as People's Republic of China, which has reached the semi-finals in three of the five Olympic tournaments.
But the attention is on the next tier of teams which could finally break through.
Abbott said: "There's some other countries that are really stepping up their game and have done really well. Italy had a really young team in Tokyo - so I imagine they'll return a lot of athletes for LA 2028, and that experience may help them have a better showing.
""We want to keep our South American countries healthy, and we want to keep our other Asian countries like Chinese Taipei, Singapore, China, just continuing to keep those countries' softball sports healthy. Europe is always going to be a challenge for us because it's not a sport that they grow up playing, but it is a sport that is developing more and more."
