Baseball is coming to Stratford.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are approaching an agreement to bring two games from their fierce rivalry to the London Stadium in June 2019.
The move comes as part of a commitment amongst Major League Baseball’s teams to play more regular season games overseas, in a bid to grow the profile of the sport around the world in a way similar to the NFL at Wembley.
With multiple NFL games hosted at Wembley every year now, it follows that the London Stadium may establish itself as the home of baseball in Great Britain.
The matches would be the first MLB games to take place in Europe, and follow previously shelved plans to host games in the UK as recently as 2012.
A driving force in the move may be Red Sox and Liverpool owner John Henry, who may be seeking to draw two of his brands close together.
MLB chief legal officer Dan Halem said:
Playing major-league games abroad is critically important to growing the game internationally, and we are very pleased that the parties were able to agree on a very comprehensive international play plan in bargaining,’
In addition, Yankees manager Aaron Boone thought the prospect of playing abroad intriguing.
I’ve never been to London,
So, if that’s true, maybe I’m going to London. Anytime you can grow our game, I think that’s a pretty cool thing.
