A general view during the game two of the 2019 Major League Baseball London Series between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees on June 30, 2019 at West Ham London Stadium in London, England. (Photo by Billie Weiss/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)
Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci reported yesterday afternoon that the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies will square off in London during the 2024 Major League Baseball Season. The games are scheduled for June 8 and 9, 2024 at London Stadium.
The Phillies are one of Major League Baseball’s oldest franchises, but this will be the first time they will play a game outside of North America. Major League Baseball has not yet decided which team will be the home team for the two games at London Stadium.
The New York Mets have not played a regular season series overseas since Opening Day of the 2000 Major League Baseball season, when they played two games against the Chicago Cubs at the Tokyo Dome.
The Mets also played the first regular season series outside of the United States and Canada in the history of Major League Baseball during the 1996 season, when they faced the San Diego Padres for three games at Estadio Mobil Super in Monterrey, Mexico.
The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals will play in London this season on June 24 and 25 at London Stadium, the second series to be held there. The two game series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees during the 2019 Major League Baseball season drew crowds of nearly 60,000 per night.
Both the Cubs and Cardinals are playing their second international series.
London Stadium is also on the grounds of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and is a multi-purpose stadium in the Stratford section of London that was originally built for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The English Premier League soccer team West Ham United became tenants of the stadium in 2016. London Stadium can hold 66,000 fans for baseball.
The Cubs and Cardinals were originally supposed to play in London during the 2020 regular season, but the Covid-19 Pandemic cancelled the series.
Major League Baseball as well announced last week that the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies will play the Mexico City Series for two games next season at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu, where the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants played two games on April 28 and 29.
A few days ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres were reported as two possible teams to play in Seoul, South Korea to start the 2024 Major League Baseball Season.
Major League Baseball will also hold select spring training games next year in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico prior the start of the 2024 regular season.
