Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Wednesday that MLB abandoned plans to have the New York Yankees and Toronto Blue Jays meet in London next June due to scheduling conflicts.
The league hoped to host the games at London Stadium next June 13 and 14. Professional soccer club West Ham United F.C. will play its final home game of the Premier League season on May 24, according to a report from ESPN, which left inadequate time to transition the field to a baseball diamond.
Furthermore, the television network Fox does not have open slots later in June due to commitments to broadcast next year’s FIFA World Cup.
The Yankees played in the inaugural London Series in 2019, sweeping the Boston Red Sox in a high-scoring two-game affair. The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals met at London Stadium in 2023, and the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies took a trip across the pond last summer.
This marks the second season in which MLB has cancelled plans to play games in Europe. A prospective series in Paris during the 2025 season was cancelled in November 2023 when Major League Baseball couldn’t find a promoter who could make the event financially viable.
“We remain interested in Europe. We think London is an important jumping off point for us,” Manfred told reporters during the announcement of the cancellation. “We have a facility that has come a long way since the first Yankee-Red Sox game. It’s a much better ballpark now than it was due to their willingness to make investments in that. We continue to believe that there’s an opportunity there and that we can get at the developed economies in Europe through that London entree.”
Although there will be no London Series next season, a Mexico City Series is possible between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres from April 25-26. However, Fox Sports reports plans are not set in stone.
The Padres met the San Francisco Giants in 2023 for the first set of regular-season games in Mexico City, a two-game series at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. The Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies competed in the second edition of the Mexico City Series last April.
MLB applies “MLB World Tour” branding to games played outside of the United States and Canada. It’s a primary component of the league’s initiative to grow baseball on an international scale during spring training and the regular season.
Photo: A general view of the field during an unveiling of the London Stadium in London, on June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
