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 30 October to 10 November in the Estadio Nacional de Panamá and the Estadio Juan Demóstenes Arosemena in Panama City and the Estadio José Antonio Remón Cantera in Aguadulce.[1] The tournament was won by Cuba, with Canada also qualifying for the Olympics.[2]
Notably, the United States team did not qualify, after losing to Mexico in the quarterfinals. This elicited shock in the American media 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.[3]
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]- ^ "Torneo Panamericano de Calificación 0límpica". baseball.ch (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 5 October 2003. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ Edwards, Eric (11 November 2003). "Cuba Wins Olympic Qualifier". Baseball America. Archived from the original on 8 October 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ Lopresti, Mike (10 November 2003). "Olympics won't be the same without U.S. baseball team". USA Today. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2024.