RedSox and Yankees will be in London next year on June 29-30.

soxhop411

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The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are nearing an agreement to play a two-game, regular season series in London in June 2019, according to people familiar with the matter.

The series would be played at London Stadium, the main facility for the 2012 Olympics, said the people, who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Details still need to be ironed out.

Officials for Major League Baseball and the teams didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Among the biggest U.S. sports, baseball is the only one that hasn’t yet played in Europe, though it has periodically staged games in Japan, Australia and Mexico. The Red Sox began the 2008 season with a pair of games against the Oakland Athletics in Tokyo; the Yankees played their 2004 opener there against the Tampa Bay Rays.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-19/yankees-red-sox-said-close-to-deal-for-june-2019-london-series

I’m actually not against this and think this could be a neat series as long as we don’t do this every year.
 

scottyno

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Playing this midseason sounds kind of awful and like a good way to lose a bunch of off days the rest of the year, why not have it in late March like the japan games were?
 

jon abbey

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Joel Sherman tweeted that his understanding was that they would both be home games for BOS, which I am all for as a Yankee fan, but which seems pretty weird why it's not 1 and 1.

Edit: Sorry, I overstated this slightly, "Red Sox likely home team":

Joel Sherman‏Verified account @Joelsherman1 45m45 minutes ago

Can confirm this report. I hear if finalized (and it is close) it would be a 2-game series in June 2019, #Redsox likely home team. MLB has felt unlike in baseball-steeped places like Japan/Mexico, had to put marquee matchup for 1st games ever reg season games in Europe.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Playing this midseason sounds kind of awful and like a good way to lose a bunch of off days the rest of the year, why not have it in late March like the japan games were?
Are you familiar with London weather at all?

This is simultaneously exciting and really really weird. Red Sox-Yankees games are almost never in August, which is usually when my dad took me back as a kid to see family, so I have never been to a Red Sox-Yankee game. London feels like an odd place to start.
 

scottyno

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Are you familiar with London weather at all?

This is simultaneously exciting and really really weird. Red Sox-Yankees games are almost never in August, which is usually when my dad took me back as a kid to see family, so I have never been to a Red Sox-Yankee game. London feels like an odd place to start.
A little bit, but if this is accurate it doesn't look like March is that much worse than June.

http://www.holiday-weather.com/london/averages/
 

uk_sox_fan

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People tend to overestimate how difficult the travel is. It's not a long flight from Boston to London - only about an hour longer than LA to Boston. Yes, you'd want a day off before and after the short two-game series so you're not playing on the day of travel but that's hardly going to require you to "lose a bunch of off days the rest of the year". If you schedule it when an off-day would come anyways it requires just one extra one. To those that suggest professional athletes somehow can't cope with 5 hour time changes or 6 - 7 hour flights I ask you to take a look at the schedules followed by professional tennis players whose matches are far more demanding physically than baseball games.

The prospect of a mini Sox-Yankees series in London would be phenomenal. Besides all the ex-pats here that would salivate over the chance to see the spectacle, the Brits would come out as well. My only worry is the prices of the tickets will be stupidly high. Oh, and the prospect of a rain-out would keep me on edge right up to game time. Still, they manage to get cricket in so it should be okay.
 

scottyno

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I guess my fear is that they do something similar to what the NBA did this year, where they turned the entire thing into a major media event and the Celtics ended up playing 1 game over a 9 day period because the nba had them their several days before and after the actual game doing other events.
 

edoug

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A couple of scheduled day/night doubleheaders would let them stay at least 6 or 7 days.
 

YTF

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People tend to overestimate how difficult the travel is. It's not a long flight from Boston to London - only about an hour longer than LA to Boston. Yes, you'd want a day off before and after the short two-game series so you're not playing on the day of travel but that's hardly going to require you to "lose a bunch of off days the rest of the year". If you schedule it when an off-day would come anyways it requires just one extra one. To those that suggest professional athletes somehow can't cope with 5 hour time changes or 6 - 7 hour flights I ask you to take a look at the schedules followed by professional tennis players whose matches are far more demanding physically than baseball games.

The prospect of a mini Sox-Yankees series in London would be phenomenal. Besides all the ex-pats here that would salivate over the chance to see the spectacle, the Brits would come out as well. My only worry is the prices of the tickets will be stupidly high. Oh, and the prospect of a rain-out would keep me on edge right up to game time. Still, they manage to get cricket in so it should be okay.
Travel time may be similar, but there is a 5 hour time difference vs 3 hours and they don't typically go to the west coast for a two game series. Late season days off are precious enough as it is and scheduling extra days off around this trip may mean difficulty in rescheduling rain outs later in the season.
 

lexrageorge

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I think it's kind of cool. As far as scheduling, I guess they could do something like this:

Day 0: Day game, followed by overnight transit to London. Or, just day game, with day time travel scheduled for Day 1.

Day 1: Arrival or travel day.

Day 2: Media events, etc.

Day 3: Game 1

Day 4: Game 2

Day 5: Travel day.

Day 6: Resume schedule.

It's hard to see it being less than 3 days off. Theoretically, they could travel evening the 2nd game and be ready for a night game on Day 5, but that's pretty brutal. It would probably be best if the 2 teams could start the season a few days early so they can still get days off 2nd half of the season. Maybe have the 2 teams play 3 games in New Orleans late March, and then each have a series or two with the Rangers/Rays/Marlins and before coming north. Just thinking out loud....
 

Savin Hillbilly

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The wrong side of the bridge....
Theoretically, they could travel evening the 2nd game and be ready for a night game on Day 5, but that's pretty brutal.
It might make most sense if the following series back stateside was a 2-game Yankees-Sox series -- to make it basically a 4-game set with an extra off day in the middle for travel. This way, whatever the repercussions of the travel are, both teams would feel them equally.
 

Couperin47

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And the point of this ? 2 Games in London will see the venue filled at least 80% by expat Americans, just as if 2 of the top English cricket clubs came to play in NYC or Boston, the stands would be filled with English, and those with Indian or West Indian backgrounds who already follow the sport. Nothing gets 'grown', so it's a 'show the flag' exercise that's pointless.
 

Earthbound64

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And the point of this ? 2 Games in London will see the venue filled at least 80% by expat Americans, just as if 2 of the top English cricket clubs came to play in NYC or Boston, the stands would be filled with English, and those with Indian or West Indian backgrounds who already follow the sport.

Yes, this is Football rather than Cricket, but still:



As far as why? There are people in England who enjoy Baseball, just as there are people in the US who enjoy (proper) Football. This lets them see it without the expense of a trans-Atlantic trip.
 

InstaFace

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There's also the symbolism of a sold-out stadium in their home country, as a suggestive point for people in the UK who might be curious about baseball. People watching it, or reading about it later, won't know whether it was 10% expats or 90% expats in the stands. They'll just know the stands were full.

What sparks an interest that can become a casual fanship in a person is usually something subtle, maybe an accumulation of brief impressions. This could be a substantial one, for a great many potential fans.

Bonger, do you know anything about the venue's suitability for MLB games?
 

Spacemans Bong

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There's also the symbolism of a sold-out stadium in their home country, as a suggestive point for people in the UK who might be curious about baseball. People watching it, or reading about it later, won't know whether it was 10% expats or 90% expats in the stands. They'll just know the stands were full.

What sparks an interest that can become a casual fanship in a person is usually something subtle, maybe an accumulation of brief impressions. This could be a substantial one, for a great many potential fans.

Bonger, do you know anything about the venue's suitability for MLB games?
The stadium won’t be 90 or 80% expats, not even close. This is the myth propagated by people butthurt about the NFL London games, and having been to some of those games it’s mostly been British people with a strong contingent of Germans and not that many Americans. There’s only about 200,000 Americans in the country and once you take out those who moved to the UK at 2, those who aren’t into football, those who aren’t into the teams playing (I’ve only ever gone when the Niners or Pats were playing), then you don’t have enough people to fill up Wembley Stadium or even half of Wembley Stadium.

The stadium itself is the 2012 Olympic Stadium so it’s basically a giant oval. In terms of suitability it’s going to look a lot like the Big O in Montréal. So seats will be far but the sight lines will be OK.
 

MiracleOfO2704

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So better question: were Lord’s or The Oval ever considered? I know it’d be just a bizarre searing arrangement (and not really as lucrative as using the Olympic Stadium), but having cricket’s American cousin send two of its best teams to the home grounds of bat-and-ball sports just seems perfectly poetic.
 

uk_sox_fan

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While I'd love to see it played there I'm certain that it would never be allowed. The condition of the cricket pitch is sacrosanct - especially in the close-infield and crease. They wouldn't want to risk turfing it up. I also can't see acceptable temporary walls being built to form an outfield.

There's also the problem of size. Lord's doesn't have the largest playing area but it has the largest seating capacity ... at 30,000. The Oval is a bit bigger pitch but only seats 26,000.
 

TheoShmeo

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Why either team would give up two home games, especially vis-a-vis each other, is beyond me. I get that in football, one team has to absorb the hit. The solution in baseball should be for each team to lose a home game or play a four game set with each team absorbing two.

I get that London is not all that far but it's hard to see how doing this wont take something out of the wind of both teams. The Sox Japanese trip a few years was blamed for a sluggish start to the season. If I lived in Europe I would probably like this a lot more.
 

Philip Jeff Frye

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I can’t for the life of me understand why they aren’t giving each team one home game
Probably because Henry wants it to happen given his investments in the UK and the price for getting the Yankees to agree was that they not lose a home gate.

I've spent a lot of time in the UK and I've never had any local express the slightest interest in baseball.
 

Spacemans Bong

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Before Olympic Stadium became an option - it was originally supposed to be downsized after the Games, until some political wrangling turned it into West Ham's white elephant - Lord's was a contender for games along with Hoofddorp, a nothing town by Schiphol Airport outside of Amsterdam that built an MLB-quality field with space down the lines to get the capacity to 30,000 via temporary stands.

But then the Olympic Stadium fell into their laps, and they got a 60,000 seat stadium they can do stuff with.
 

lexrageorge

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Why either team would give up two home games, especially vis-a-vis each other, is beyond me. I get that in football, one team has to absorb the hit. The solution in baseball should be for each team to lose a home game or play a four game set with each team absorbing two.

I get that London is not all that far but it's hard to see how doing this wont take something out of the wind of both teams. The Sox Japanese trip a few years was blamed for a sluggish start to the season. If I lived in Europe I would probably like this a lot more.
The Red Sox were 16-11 in April of 2008, which slightly exceeded their overall winning percentage of 0.586. There was one stretch where they won 10 of 11 in the middle of the month. They did endure a 5 game losing streak, but that was at the end of the month, and started during a homestand, long after the road trip was done.

I'm guessing that both Thursday (travel) and Friday (media stuff) will be off days, games Saturday and Sunday, with potentially another off day on Monday.

And losing 2 games at Fenway out of 81 is not that much of a big deal for anyone to worry about.
 

cjdmadcow

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I may be amongst the minority in my own circle of friends by being a baseball / Red Sox loving Brit but I really think that the attendance is more likely to be 80/20 UK/USA split rather than the other way around, no doubt helped by the teams involved.

Even Brits without any interest in baseball have heard of the Red Sox & Yankees so would probably take more than a passing interest in seeing them live - especially in games that are actually competitive and not just pre-season / Spring training friendlies.

Blimey, I might get to see the Red Sox for the first time in my 20-years of supporting them!
 

Couperin47

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I may be amongst the minority in my own circle of friends by being a baseball / Red Sox loving Brit but I really think that the attendance is more likely to be 80/20 UK/USA split rather than the other way around, no doubt helped by the teams involved.

Even Brits without any interest in baseball have heard of the Red Sox & Yankees so would probably take more than a passing interest in seeing them live - especially in games that are actually competitive and not just pre-season / Spring training friendlies.

Blimey, I might get to see the Red Sox for the first time in my 20-years of supporting them!
so you think being a native Brit who is an actively participating member of a Boston Red Sox fan website (where membership has never been a 'just sign up' thing) may make you something of an outlier ? :rolleyes:
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Why either team would give up two home games, especially vis-a-vis each other, is beyond me. I get that in football, one team has to absorb the hit. The solution in baseball should be for each team to lose a home game or play a four game set with each team absorbing two.

I get that London is not all that far but it's hard to see how doing this wont take something out of the wind of both teams. The Sox Japanese trip a few years was blamed for a sluggish start to the season. If I lived in Europe I would probably like this a lot more.
You realize the difference in flight time from Bos/NY to London vs that of to London, right? You’re comparing 13-14 hours to 6.
 

TheoShmeo

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You realize the difference in flight time from Bos/NY to London vs that of to London, right? You’re comparing 13-14 hours to 6.
You hit the bullseye with a sponge rather than a dart with that comment but yes, I realize that there is a flight time difference between Japan and London.

I assume you also realize that:

- West coast trips tend to take something out of teams;

- This is a longer trip than the usual West Coast trip;

- The five hour time difference is longer and goes in the other direction than time difference a team usually deals with; and

- While a Japan trip is of course a much bigger deal, the point was not the linear comparison between the two but rather that playing in London will likely be more draining, all things considered, than playing in Fenway. I would guess it will take a lot more out of them than playing at home.
 

TheoShmeo

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The Red Sox were 16-11 in April of 2008, which slightly exceeded their overall winning percentage of 0.586. There was one stretch where they won 10 of 11 in the middle of the month. They did endure a 5 game losing streak, but that was at the end of the month, and started during a homestand, long after the road trip was done.

I'm guessing that both Thursday (travel) and Friday (media stuff) will be off days, games Saturday and Sunday, with potentially another off day on Monday.

And losing 2 games at Fenway out of 81 is not that much of a big deal for anyone to worry about.
Thanks for the knowledge regarding the actual numbers in 08. That's interesting and does tend to suggest that whatever drain the players will feel will be manageable. Still, I'd rather not inflict that on them but I take your point.

And while it's inarguable that 2 out of 81 is not a big deal, I don't see why the Sox should play fewer games against the Yankees in one season at home, or why the easy fix of having one game be a Sox home game and one a MFY home game should not be adopted. That way, whatever advantage the Yankees might gain would be eliminated.
 
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soxhop411

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PER AP
Source tells the AP that MLB will announce next week that the RedSox and Yankees will play 2 games in London next year on June 29-30. The Sox will reportedly be the home team.”

NEW YORK (AP) — A person familiar with the planning says 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 person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press on Thursday because no public comments have been authorized.

The 2019 games are set for 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.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan scheduled a news conference for Tuesday with baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred but did not announce the subject matter.
https://www.apnews.com/1c3f15b1d06d4eb6a84d9bbe3b38bd54
 

reggiecleveland

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If John Adams could have anticipated that the American nation he would help create would make a sport defined as the nation pass time, and for long time exclude black players as part of the endemic racism that was part of the compromise of the making the USA, then eventually allow them, and that while the USA would grow to be a superpower, a team playing said sport from his home city (with albeit an bad historical record on the whole black player thing) would one day cross the ocean and play in London as the "home" team he would be proud, maybe.
 

Bergs

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If they were gonna do this, I wish they would have done it right before the All-Star break. Had they pushed it to July 6 & 7, most of each team would have several days rest/de-jet-lagging time (ASG is July 9).
 

Merkle's Boner

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Wonder what this means for season ticket holders. Will they be able to opt out of buying these games? I assume they’ll at least get first bid at tickets.
 

section15

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Wonder what this means for season ticket holders. Will they be able to opt out of buying these games? I assume they’ll at least get first bid at tickets.
Surmising - if these are weekend games, those that have plans A and C will just be billed for two fewer games.

As far as first bid at tickets, no one really can say -- but almost certainly there will be a "Red Sox Destinations" trip. On the other hand, like nearly every "travel package" -- if you plan your own trip, book your own flights in advance, book your hotels long ahead - you might do better financially. And with electronic ticketing - you'll probably be able to buy them online through whoever the promoter is over there.

Two years ago the Sox played two games in Montreal. I bought my own tickets through Eventko, booked my own hotel. My wife and I only paid around a quarter, or less, than what the Sox were asking for their Destinations tour. Yeah, I didn't get a meet-and-greet with a player, and I didn't get the VIP tour of Olympic Stadium. As I said on another forum, a tour of Olympic Stadium is probably about as exciting as a tour of a parking garage, because that's what that place resembles.
 

inter tatters

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Playing this midseason sounds kind of awful and like a good way to lose a bunch of off days the rest of the year, why not have it in late March like the japan games were?
London had heavy snow at the end of March this year.

Yes, the prevailing wind in Britain is a South-Westerly, which gives us far higher temperatures than you would expect at our latitude, but it doesn't happen all the time - this March being a prime example of what happens when the wind turns Easterly.