The Yankees have already experienced baseball in London at Olympic Stadium, meeting the Red Sox for two games in 2019 as MLB played its first game in England.
And the MLB World Tour for the 2024 season will include the Mets, the league announced Friday night.
They’ll face the Phillies for two games in London on June 8-9 as MLB returns to England for a third year, following the Yankees-Red Sox series in 2019 and the Cardinals-Cubs matchups this weekend.
It’ll mark the fourth time the Mets have played an international game, too, joining their games in Mexico (1996), Japan (2000) and Puerto Rico (2010), according to MLB.com.
The three games in Mexico against the Padres and the two in Japan against the Cubs were MLB’s first-ever games in those respective countries, according to the league’s release.
“Alex and I are thrilled the Mets will play in the MLB 2024 London Series,” Mets owner Steve Cohen told MLB.com. “Interest in baseball is growing all over the world 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.”
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The Yankees and Red Sox turned their London games into slugfests, as the pair of teams combined for 50 runs across the two games with more than 59,000 fans in attendance each day at Olympic Stadium, where Premier League team West Ham United plays its home matches.
This weekend, the Cubs and the Cardinals will have two chances to match that offensive output from four years ago, including the opener on Saturday with Adam Wainwright throwing for St. Louis against Chicago’s Justin Steele.
Though difficult to predict which pitchers and lineup combinations could be featured in the Phillies-Mets series, the NL East rivalry should still have most of its key pieces — from Justin Verlander and Aaron Nola to Bryce Harper and Trea Turner — intact, pending trades, declined options and free agency departures.
“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,” commissioner Rob Manfred told MLB.com in a statement.
After sweeping the Phillies during a three-game set at the end of May and beginning of June, Philadelphia took the series-opener Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, 5-1, behind six strong innings from starting pitcher Taijuan Walker against his former team.
