​The World Baseball Classic has been an exciting showcase for baseball on the international stage, but some MLB players, including Bryce Harper, have lamented their inability to taste a gold medal on an Olympic podium.“I’ve been fighting for LA28 for a long time,” Harper said in March. “I think my whole career I’ve been trying to get something started or something coming up. Obviously, the WBC has been great, but it’s not the Olympics, right?”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBaseball was featured in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but MLB players on active 40-man rosters were prohibited from participating. After being excluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics, the sport is set to return to Los Angeles in 2028. Whether the MLB’s top stars get the chance to live out their dreams, however, remains to be seen.Last year, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred opened the door to MLB participation in LA28, provided the ballclubs agree. MLB has since garnered support from owners, but according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, “disagreements with the MLB Players Association over hotel rooms, tickets and a mandatory-participation agreement” have threatened proceedings.Per emails obtained by ESPN, the MLBPA has balked at LA28’s current proposal, instead seeking a deal similar to the one struck between the Olympic Committee, NHL, and NHLPA that paved the way for NHL stars to return to the 2026 Milano Cortina Games after a 12-year absence.For the MLB’s part, the league is seeking assurances that its top stars will be showcased on the Olympic stage via a mandatory participation agreement that would place violators on the restricted list, without pay or service time, from July 12 to Aug. 3, a move the MLBPA has staunchly opposed.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLA28 has offered 435 additional hotel rooms, which are expected to be used by athletes’ family members while the athletes stay in the Olympic Village, on top of the 100 reserved by MLB and another 100 for the Japanese national team, which is favored to join powerhouse automatic qualifiers Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and the United States as one of six countries competing.Players have been informed that LA28’s friends-and-family ticket policy allowed athletes, and LA28 has remained flexible in unlocking “the right to purchase additional for each Athlete,” but athlete compensation has presented itself as another major hurdle for sides to overcome.“The MLBPA is seeking fair treatment for its members in consideration for the substantial financial value they would bring to LA28,” top lawyer and MLB advisor Ian Penny wrote in a June 26 email.“Ideally,” Penny added, “that consideration would closely align with the value created and include direct compensation.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLA28’s vice president of sports, Niccolò Campriani, does not anticipate much movement from LA28 on the core of the current proposal, but remains willing to iron things out on the m