Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Baseball at the 2004 Summer Olympics was held on two separate diamonds within the Helliniko Olympic Complex, from 15 to 25 August. For the second time in Olympic competition, professional baseball players were eligible to participate, though no active players from Major League Baseball were available.
The competition consisted of a preliminary round with each team playing all the other teams once, for a total of seven games. The top four teams at the end of this round advanced to the medals round. The medals round consisted of two semifinal games with the winners advancing to the gold medal game. The losing teams of the semifinals would play in the bronze medal game.
Team squads
| Team | Qualification criteria | Appearance |
| Australia | Winner of Oceania Champion vs Africa Champion | 3rd |
| Canada | Second place at Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Panama | 1st |
| Chinese Taipei | Second place at Asian Championship | 2nd |
| Cuba | First place at Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Panama | 4th |
| Greece | Automatic as host nation of the Olympics | 1st |
| Italy | First place at European Olympic Qualification Tournament | 4th |
| Japan | First place at Asian Championship | 4th |
| Netherlands | Second place at European Olympic Qualification Tournament | 3rd |
Controversy
Despite being the home of baseball and the defending gold medalists, the United States did not make it to Athens after losing a qualifying game to Mexico, 1-0. The Americas Tournament, which decided which two teams from North America, South America and the Caribbean went to Athens, was single-elimination, when almost all other baseball tournaments are double-elimination.Others took issue with the fact that three of the eight slots in the Olympics were European, while the Americas and Asia got only two slots apiece. The absence of such teams as the USA, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and South Korea led to disinterest in the Olympic tournament in those countries.
The 2008 tournament has changed the qualifying procedure; the United States qualified, as did Cuba and the host country China.
Bracket
Results
Preliminary round
The top four teams advanced to the semifinals. To determine the seed ranking of teams tied in the standings, the result of the two teams' game against each other was used. Japan therefore received first place due to the win over Cuba. In the semi-finals, Japan played Australia and Cuba played Canada. The higher ranked team in each game was the home team.| Team | W | L | Tiebreaker |
| 6 | 1 | 1-0 | |
| 6 | 1 | 0-1 | |
| 5 | 2 | - | |
| 4 | 3 | - | |
| 3 | 4 | - | |
| 2 | 5 | - | |
| 1 | 6 | 1-0 | |
| 1 | 6 | 0-1 |
;August 15
;August 16
;August 17
;August 18
;August 20
;August 21
;August 22