MLB, London announce long-term partnership

[Auggie]

Major League Baseball is headed back to London.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a long-term partnership between the league and the city Monday that includes regular-season games in 2023, 2024 and 2026, along with other major events over the next five years.

MLB’s first venture into the United Kingdom came in 2019, when the Red Sox and the Yankees took part in the MLB London Series, two games at London Stadium that each drew nearly 60,000 fans. The Yankees won both games, during which a total of 50 runs were scored.

“All aspects of the inaugural MLB games in London were an overwhelming success,” Manfred said in a statement. “It was clear that sports fans in London had a great appetite for baseball and that passion was shared by Mayor Khan as well as the business and media community. We are confident in making a long-term commitment to London and are looking forward to returning to the city with more MLB games, special fan events, and other opportunities to play and watch the game.”

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-announces-long-term-partnership-with-london

Did Manfred bother to check with what local fans think? To play a Red Sox/Yankees series anywhere outside of the Bronx or Boston is criminal.

Gee I hate Manfred ...

[Moostache]

1. MLB is just chasing the sugar high dollars...

No different than the NFL (and its continual flirtation with putting a team in London).

Sure the once a year events draw well and make it seem like an incredible opportunity...but beware the collapse of interest when instead of 1-2 games a year (with different teams) you switch to a full time team and play (and royally lose) 10-11 games a year in the NFL or god forbid 81 in baseball.

The travel disadvantage alone makes this idea laughable from a competitive stand point...there's legitimate reason the Dodgers and Giants don't have constant series in New York, Boston or Philly for gawd's sake!

In the end, I don't care any more like I once did. Let the billionaire's greed kill all the golden geese...the world will become a better place for it in the long run. I used to live, breath, sweat and bleed baseball every day from March until November in the late-70's and through the 80's. Baseball was life and summer and preparing for spring training (in Chicago during those years, playoff baseball was seen on TV and ALWAYS in other cities!)...then came 1994.

When baseball cancelled the World Series rather than finish the season, part of me died. That part was the little boy who loved the game so much he would play until dark and then play ctach or 'runner in the middle' under street lights until it was bedtime. The part that died was innocence and wonder and the misapprehension that baseball was still good and the nation's pastime.

Greed is good was on-screen from Gordon Gecko in 1987's "Wall Stree" by Oliver Stone. Greed is all was on display in 1994 by MLB and it forever killed my love of the game. In 2005, when the White Sox (not the damn Cubs) FINALLY broke the drought for Chicago teams winning a World Series...I shared the moment with my dad, ut it was more subdued than it would have been in '94, and nothing can replace that.

Not more titles, not more free agents, not more ball parks with but-massaging seats and valets to bring food to you in sealed off sections of the ball park, and certainly not more games in foreign locales to attract ex-pats and a few curious locales for a short time.

I truly do hope the billionaire owners all keep believing their own hype and think they truly are smarter than everyone else (instead of mostly being either emotionally damaged outcasts or viciously greedy scions of criminal families. Fuck them all, and fuck baseball too.