The Associated Press reports that Major League Baseball intends to announce next week that the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will play two games at London’s Olympic Stadium in June next year. The games will take place on June 29-30. These will be the first regular-season MLB games in Europe. The Red Sox will be the home team for both games.
There will be a news conference next week with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, presumably announcing the series. They did not say that explicitly, but that’s a pretty good guess. I mean, they’re not going to talk about the the Watford, Hackney, Newham, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets mayoral elections. Wait, what?
The existence of this series was first reported in March, though no one confirmed it at the time. It’s certainly in keeping with MLB’s plans to expand international play. There have been games in Japan, Australia, and Mexico. The NFL will have three games played in London this year. It makes sense that baseball would try to go there as well.