Baseball is returning to the Olympics in 2020. The question now is who will be playing.With the Summer Games falling in the middle of the major league season, the sport has never been able to produce the kind of best-against-best spectacle that Olympic hockey and basketball have. But even if that remains the case, there will undoubtedly be some big names taking the field at the Tokyo Games.It just might take a few years before baseball fans really know them.Baseball was a full medal event at the Olympics from 1992-2008, and it was a demonstration sport before that. In 1984, Japan won the gold medal game, beating a U.S. team that included Mark McGwire and Will Clark -- both of whom were a couple years away from their big league debuts. At the Seoul Olympics in 1988, the Americans avenged that loss when Jim Abbott beat Japan in the title game.Heres a brief chronology of Olympic baseball since it became a medal sport in 1992:Barcelona (1992): Jason Giambi and Nomar Garciaparra were part of this U.S. team, but the Americans were drubbed by Japan and Cuba and failed to win a medal. The Omar Linares-led Cubans took the gold.Atlanta (1996): Home-field advantage only meant so much for the U.S., which lost 11-2 to Japan in the semifinals and had to settle for bronze. Cuba beat Japan 13-9 for the gold, with Linares hitting three homers in the title game.Sydney (2000): Cubas Olympic dynasty was finally upended when the U.S. knocked off the two-time defending champions 4-0 to win the gold. Professionals were allowed in the Olympic tournament for the first time, but the conflict with the major league schedule meant the Americans still had a relatively unheralded roster. With Tommy Lasorda managing, Ben Sheets allowed one earned run in 22 innings, and his three-hitter in the final gave the U.S. the title.Athens (2004): The U.S. didnt even make it to the Olympics to defend its title. The Americans were eliminated in qualifying, and the gold medal went back to Cuba, which beat upstart Australia in the final. The Aussies had upset Daisuke Matsuzaka and Japan in the semifinals.Beijing (2008): The last Olympic baseball tournament for a while ended in dramatic fashion, when Cubas Yulieski Gurriel -- who signed a $47.5 million, five-year contract with Houston last month -- hit into a double play with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. South Korea held on for a 3-2 win and the gold.There were plenty of future major leaguers playing in the 08 Summer Games. Hyun-Jin Ryu pitched for the champion South Koreans, and the bronze medal-winning Americans had Stephen Strasburg and Jake Arrieta.Japan failed to medal despite having Yu Darvish, Masahiro Tanaka and Norichika Aoki.Here are a few developments from around baseball this past week:STANDING ALONEAlex Rodriguez is set to play his final game for the New York Yankees on Friday, and David Ortiz has announced hell retire at seasons end. If those two are indeed done after this year, then Albert Pujols will be the only remaining active member of the 500-homer club.The 36-year-old Pujols is at 581. The closest active player below 500 home runs is Miguel Cabrera at 433.FANTASY FOCUSNow that the trade deadline is out of the way and players are settling in with new teams and perhaps new roles, the next big issue to watch down the stretch is innings limits. Weve seen teams exercise caution with young pitchers in ways that can affect their fantasy value.Torontos Aaron Sanchez, the AL ERA leader, hasnt been moved to the bullpen yet, but the Blue Jays are clearly being cautious with him, using a six-man rotation. Detroits Michael Fulmer will also be monitored carefully.LINE OF THE WEEKBaltimores Manny Machado homered in the first, second and third innings, driving in seven runs in a 10-2 win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday. That flurry of power gave the All-Star third baseman a surprisingly reasonable chance at a four-homer game, but he went hitless in his next three at-bats.---Follow Noah Trister at www.Twitter.com/noahtristerDante Exum Jazz Jersey . But Bourque, who has missed three games with a lower-body injury, wont be in the lineup when the Habs travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Wednesday. Jeff Hornacek Jazz Jersey . Badenhop was 2-3 with a 3.47 ERA in 63 relief appearances for Milwaukee this season. He is 18-20 in his career with three saves and a 3. http://www.jazzauthentic.com/kids-pete-maravich-jazz-jersey/ . -- Three close looks at the bucket, three misses. Dante Exum Jersey . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. Custom Utah Jazz Jerseys . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. Surrey 255 for 7 (Davies 104, Foakes 90, Waite 3-48) beat Yorkshire 236 (Bresnan 68, Meaker 3-61) by 19 runsScorecardYorkshire folk, so tradition has it, dont much care for London. Dire warnings are issued that its £5 a pint, people run up escalators and that you are stared at suspiciously if you talk gratuitously to a stranger. As far as Yorkshire cricket is concerned, there must be strangers a plenty in London - they have still not managed to go there for a Lords final since 2002.Surrey, finishing the season with a swagger, put Yorkshire in their place on their own Headingley midden by a 19-run margin and now face the winners of Mondays semi-final between Warwickshire and Somerset with a chance to improve on last years agonising defeat to Gloucestershire.Steven Davies impressively carefree century, with Ben Foakes not far short, took Surrey to 255 for 7, a worthy effort, but manageable in easing conditions. But Surrey looked in control of this Royal London Cup semi-final from the moment that Stuart Meaker took 3 for 2 in nine balls - Jonny Bairstow, Gary Ballance and Jack Leaning all succumbing on a sluggish surface that gave Meaker, the fastest bowler on view, few advantages.That Yorkshire remained in touch until deep into the game was down to the resolve of Tim Bresnan, who completed a productive batting summer in this competition with 68 from 82 balls, his resistance ending seven balls from time when he swung a full toss from Jade Dernbach to long-on. It was a composed effort from Bresnan, so calm in adversity that one imagines if war ever hit Pontefract he would first sit on a bench munching a bacon butty and see how it developed.After briefly imagining the possibility of a treble, Yorkshire have now crashed out of both limited-overs competitions on successive weekends at the semi-final stage. Their semi-final record in List A cricket is particularly galling. That statistic isnt in our minds, said Jason Gillespie, their coach, ahead of this tie. But the statistic exists, further swollen to 17 defeats in 20. Perhaps it partly explains a Headingley crowd of only 5,000, left disappointed too often.When it has mattered we havent been good enough, said Alex Lees, whose debut season as a limited-overs captain has ended with dejection. I thought it was a gettable target. Tim Bresnan has won us three or four games single-handedly and has been exceptional both with bat and ball. If we look back it will have been a positive season, but lets be honest, you dont want to lose two semi-finals.There was little to delight the Tykes who did spend Bank Holiday Sunday at Headingley when Yorkshire batted. Adam Lyth popped Dernbach into the off side and then Lees, never entirely secure, played outside a quicker arm ball from Gareth Batty, who underwent an instant transformation from chatty chappie to the Batty Haka, his eyes as wide as fat-fried eggs, his face contorting in warlike celebration. Im so bad I always think it might be the last wicket I ever get, Surreys captain proffered. He is much better than that.Batty held back Meaker until the 20th over, perhaps fearing that he would be more likely to leak runs when the ball was hard, and it took Meaker three balls to remove Bairsstow, courtesy of a weak whip to midwicket.dddddddddddd In his next over came two more. Ballance, who had carved his way into the 30s, edged to the wicketkeeper, Foakes, attempting to chop him through gully, a shot that often gets him into bother. Leaning dragged on to leave Yorkshire 81 for 5.Consolation came not just from Bresnan but also in the competitive instincts of Matthew Waite, whose spirited 38 shared a sixth-wicket stand of 80 in 16 overs. But Sam Curran scuttled in dementedly to deceive Waite with a slower ball from around the wicket, Tom Curran loped in with his own version of a slower ball to remove Steven Patterson first ball and Surrey got the job done.Surrey fielded five wicketkeepers in their XI, including the England U-19 Ollie Pope on debut. That plus a wicketkeeper of an older vintage, Alec Stewart, looking on. After they had been inserted by Yorkshire, two of them, Davies and Foakes, provided the substance in a fourth-wicket stand of 130 in 24 overs which allowed them to make light of a failure for Kumar Sangakkara, the man who had virtually single-handedly won their quarter-final against Northants - pulled off by one wicket off the last ball.The careers are increasingly interconnected: Davies has decided he wants to don the gauntlets again; Foakes is the man in possession. Davies has been offered another Surrey contract, but Somerset and Nottinghamshire are among those seeking to entice him away. There are good England judges who hold Foakes in high regard, so much so that a Test tour to Bangladesh and India is not beyond possibility, while Davies has not represented England for five years and never warrants a mention these days. It must frustrate him, but competition among keeper-batsmen has been high and his indecision about his commitment to the role has not always helped him.Here, though, was a reminder, of his quality. He timed the ball as crisply as anyone, his bigger shots, as so often, found square on the off side, and he reached 104 with little to discomfort him until depositing a full toss from Waite into the hands of deep square. Foakes, working the leg side efficiently, missed his hundred as he scooped Bresnan to short fine leg.Surrey had eyes on 275 when Davies was dismissed with 12 overs remaining. That they never quite summoned a final flourish was partly due to the nature of the pitch and also to the resilience of Waite, who received cheers for his return of 3 for 48. He was fortunate to pick up Rory Burns with a leg side gift which he flicked to long leg and Sam Curran also self-destructed but - just as he did in the NatWest T20 Blast quarter-final against Glamorgan in Cardiff - he revelled in the pressure of a big game and by that virtue alone looks a decent prospect. He will rue not locking onto a return chance, however, when Davies was 43.A place in the final, though, deservedly belonged to Surrey - and their combative captain, Batty. Born in Bradford, a Yorkshire loyalist in the crowd is bound to have asserted. Clearly here is one Yorkshire-born cricketer who has revelled in life in the capital. ' ' '