Major League Baseball Makes Their Really Stupid Idea Official as the Yankees and Red Sox Will Play a Two Game Series in London Next Year
Well, it’s official. The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox will play a two games series next season on Saturday June 29th and Sunday June 30th. I’ve voiced my opinion on this matter several times and some of you complained I whine too much (that may be true for most things). Well, the Yankees and Red Sox play tonight in probably the most hyped May baseball series I can think of over the last 10 years. With the two NBA games tonight being likely blowouts, (Golden State and Houston at home) the sports world will probably turn their collective attention to the events taking place in The Bronx. Now imagine what this will be like a year from now when this series is in London. Instead of an absolute zoo in the Bronx or a wild ruckus in Fenway, where fans want to kill each other, we’ll get a crowd of English people that care more about about the upcoming Liverpool-Chelsea match than Severino against Sale. You can tell me people in London care about baseball, but we know soccer is king there as well as rugby. People who have office jobs aren’t talking about the red hot Yankees at the water cooler. They’re talking about the Premier League or the UEFA Cup or where Ronaldo is going to play next. Stop trying to force American sports in London just like Gretchen was trying to make fetch happen in Mean Girls. The only reason NFL London games have gained traction to us is because we can wake up at 9am on a Sunday and have football on. Other than that no one cares about growing the game in Europe.
I understand what Major League Baseball is doing. They’re trying to grow the sport in Europe similar to what the NFL has been attempting, and to do that they have to send over their marquee teams. I think it’s a disaster of an idea, especially for Boston. Instead of what I assumed would be a home and home series, this two game set will oddly feature Boston as the home team. If I were a Sox fan I’d be livid. With how good these two squads are and how every head-to-head game matters down the stretch as they battle for the AL East title, sacrificing two home games to go play in London is a big disadvantage. Another problem here is what happens to the normal MLB schedule where teams play every single day. Unlike the NFL where these teams have a full bye week that comes into play, baseball is every goddamn day. Flying these two teams across the Atlantic Ocean for two games seems so ridiculous in my mind.
Another disaster scenario is if the weather doesn’t cooperate. From research I’ve done, London Stadium’s roof does not cover the whole field. Can you imagine if they go all that way only for the games to be rained out because London stinks and rains 24/7? God help us all if that’s the case.
On the commute to work today I got genuinely pumped up about tonight’s game. Jared and I will be in attendance for a sold out crowd with Severino and Pomeranz on the bump. Could we get another brawl? Who knows, but I can’t wait for 7:05 to roll around.
P.S. With this all being said, if Jared and myself can boondoggle our way to England for a weekend I would likely withdraw my complaints. I do not see that happening though.