New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies set to play series in London during 2024 season
Major League Baseball is headed back to London, with the Mets and Phillies set to play a two-game series there in 2024.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the series during a press conference Friday as the Cardinals and Cubs warmed up for their game played at the home of West Ham, a soccer team in the Premier League.
The Phillies-Mets will play in London Stadium next June 8-9, 2024. It’s normally a good show when the games are played at Citizens Bank Park in Philly or Citi Field in Queens. It’ll take on an added luster in London.
“We think our game is at its best when we have traditional rivals playing and we want to show the fans here in London the very best form of baseball,” Manfred told reporters.
Playing in England is a relatively new concept for MLB. The Yankees and Red Sox, which is truly one of the great rivalries in sports, played in London in 2019. That was the first pro baseball game played in England and Europe.
“We want to show our best when we come someplace special like London. We do regard London to be special – of strategic importance to us,” Manfred said.
While Phillies-Mets play in London, Yankees may be headed to Paris
You can maybe add Paris to the travel rotation. NBC Sports reported that the Yankees are pushing for a seres in the City of Lights for the 2025 season. The MLB Players Association approved the 2025 game in its collective bargaining agreement signed last year.
The London games are part of the MLB World Tour. The league plans as many as 24 regular season games between now and 2026. The league wants to play in Asia, Europe, Mexico and in other Latin American countries.
A French journalist asked about Paris during the MLB press conference in London. Manfred said: “we are in the process of working on Paris in 2025. We’re not at the point where we’re going to make a commitment or make a formal announcement. But it is in the planning stages and was part of the general program that was laid out in the basic agreement.”
The Mets have played on foreign soil, but the London trip for the Phillies will be a first outside the United States or Canada. The Mets played in Mexico in 1996, then had a game in Japan in 2000. They played in Puerto Rico in 2010.
“Interest in baseball is growing all over the world,” Mets owner Steve Cohen said in a statement. “And to bring the Mets ‘never-say-die’ attitude to sports fans in London is a tremendous honor. Our Queens family is ready to show London a great time with exciting baseball and amazing experiences that create new fans and build the Mets community throughout the United Kingdom.”