Cubs, Cardinals will play two-game series in London next June

Courtesy: Tim Ireland/AP

One of baseball’s greatest rivalries will head overseas.

MLB announced the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will play in the second London Series next summer. This series was scheduled to be played in London in 2020 but was canceled because of the pandemic.

Next summer will mark the first series in London in four years after the Yankees and Red Sox played the inaugural London Series in 2019. The series combined for 50 runs and clocked in over nine hours, giving fans an offensive display they’ll never forget. The London Series game will emanate from London Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000 seats. According to MLB.com, the 2019 London Series drew 59,659 and 59,059 in games one and two, respectively.

MLB hopes to continue the success of the London Series in 2019, which generated a lot of buzz for sport, as MLB will continue to play games in London in 2023, 2024, and 2026. The partnership is baseball’s attempt to grow the game internationally in other sectors of the world.

Baseball is huge in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Japan, but MLB struggles to garner popularity in other markets. According to MLB.com, 2022 Opening Day rosters featured 275 foreign-born players. However, only one percent of foreign-born players are born outside countries in the Caribbean, Latin America & Asia. Hence, Major League Baseball is missing out on a huge European market as the London series looks to change that.