Coming off Japan's gold medal at the World Cup of Softball, a combined force of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), Baseball Federation of Japan (BFJ), and the Japan Softball Association (JSA) are making a strong push to bring baseball and softball back to the Summer Olympics in time for the 2020 Games in Japan.

Both sports were removed from the 2012 Games in London, and won't be featured at the 2016 Games in Rio.

With the Summer Olympics set to start in just a few weeks, the Japanese committee hopes softball and baseball will be considered for inclusion before the IOC votes on the five new sports to be added in 2020.

There are currently some roadblocks that will make this a difficult issue to resolve in such a short period of time, the biggest of which is reaching an agreement with Major League Baseball (MLB) on whether its athletes will be involved.

NPB team owners agreed to suspend the season during the summer so players could represent their countries during the Games, which will run from July 24 through August 9.

NBP commissioner Katsuhiko Kumasaki asked MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to allow the requested MLB players to take part in the Games. But Manfred told the Associated Press this week that "from a calendar prospective, the dates of the Tokyo Games are not ideal."

Manfred also said he wants to meet with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) to understand what would be required of the MLB and its players before making a final decision on the matter.