NEW YORK, NY – Major League Baseball is showing marked financial support the U.S. women’s softball team, which already is assured a spot in the Tokyo Olympics while the American men’s baseball team struggles to qualify, ESPN reported.

MLB announced an agreement last Thursday to become the presenting sponsor exhibition games, called the “Stand Beside Her” tour, leading up to the Olympic tournament from July 22-28.

Softball began as an Olympic sport for the 1996 Atlanta Games, winning gold medals that year and in 2000 and 2004 with players that included Dot Richardson, Jennie Finch and Jessica Mendoza, then lost to Japan in the 2008 gold medal game.

The 2008 gold medal softball game took 1 hours, 45 minutes — less than half the 3:45 average for this year’s World Series, ESPN reported.