USA baseball schedule: How to watch every 2021 Olympic team game from Tokyo

Team USA is looking for a home run of Olympic proportions.

The United States is actually unfamiliar to gold in the Olympic games: In five inclusions in the Olympics since baseball was first held as a sport in 1992, the US has just one gold medal resting on the mantle. They've medaled three times overall in five games, with two bronze medals in the trophy case alongside the gold.

With Olympic baseball taking a backseat in the last two Olympiads, hardball is back with six entrants and fun tournament starting on July 27. The group stage will lead the tournament, with the knockout stage seeding determined by how group play finishes up.

Here's how you can catch the 2021 Olympic baseball team:

MORE: Watch the Olympics live with fuboTV (7-day free trial)

How to watch USA Olympic baseball

• TV channels:  USA, CNBC
• Live stream:  NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports app, fuboTV

At the outset of the tournament, most Team USA games are not scheduled to   be broadcast over cable networks. Only a select few games during the baseball tournament will be aired on cable TV, on the USA Network and CNBC.

The majority of games will be able to be streamed on the NBCOlympics.com website, the NBC Sports app, and for select games, fuboTV, which offers a 7-day free trial.

Team USA will take the field twice during group play. Group play determines seedings for the knockout stage.

—  Friday, July 30 : The United States takes on Israel in a group-play matchup (6 a.m. ET on NBCOlympics.com, NBC Sports app).

—  Saturday, July 31:  Team USA faces off against South Korea, their second and final group-play matchup (6 a.m. ET on USA Network, NBCOlympics.com).

After group play, the United States will advance to the knockout stage. The schedule for the knockout stage is as follows, and TV channels are subject to change:

*The gold medal game will air tape-delayed on USA Network.

USA Olympic baseball roster

The 24-man roster is managed by former Los Angeles Angels manager Mike Scioscia:

How does the Olympic baseball tournament work?

Qualifying

In all, six teams qualified for a chance at a gold medal this year:

—  Japan  qualified for being the host nation.

—  Israel  qualified as the winner of the Asia/Europe qualifying event in 2019.

— At the 2019 WBSC Premier12,  South Korea  and  Mexico  both qualified. 

— Earlier in 2021, the  United States  qualified in an Americas qualifying event.

— At the final qualifying event in 2021, the  Dominican Republic  earned an Olympic bid.

Tournament

The actual Olympic tournament is a little bit more complicated than its softball counterpart. Here's how it breaks down:

Group stage

The six teams will be divided into two groups: Group A (Japan, Mexico and the Dominican Republic) and Group B (the U.S., Israel and South Korea). Teams in their groups will play each others once, for six games total.

Knockout stage

In the first three games, the teams in opposing groups will play one another based on seeding from group play (A1 vs. B1, A2 vs. B2, A3 vs. B3). The loser of the A3 vs. B3 game is eliminated from the tournament.

Otherwise, teams play one another in a double-elimination tournament until there is one team left from the winners and losers bracket. Those two teams will play one another in the gold-medal game. The last two teams eliminated in the losers bracket will play in the bronze-medal game. There will be 10 total games played in the knockout stage (include bronze- and gold-medal games) for 16 games overall.

Olympic baseball 2021 schedule

There are 16 games total in the Olympic baseball tournament. We don't know the knockout stage matchups yet, but we know when the games will be played:

Group stage

Knockout stage

*The gold medal game will air tape-delayed on USA Network.