The MLB World Tour continues in late June with the highly anticipated London Series featuring the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals. The two-game series will be held on Saturday and Sunday at London Stadium, typically the home of West Ham United.
London Stadium’s transformation for baseball is complete. The @Cardinals and @Cubs will have a match here on Saturday and Sunday.
Images via: @LondonStadium pic.twitter.com/nxY7sDiOTW
— MLB Cathedrals (@MLBcathedrals) June 20, 2023
MLB’s Return to Europe
This marks MLB’s return to Europe since the 2019 series between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, which featured a memorable high-scoring game with a combined total of 30 runs. The Cardinals and Cubs were initially scheduled for the London
Series in 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB resumed international games in 2023 with the Mexico Series between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants in April, where the Padres emerged victorious in both games with a total of 37 runs scored.
In the London Series, the Cardinals will serve as the home team. Both teams have prior experience playing internationally, with the Cubs having traveled to Tokyo, Japan, and San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2003, while the Cardinals played in Monterrey, Mexico in 2019 against the Cincinnati Reds.
Pitching Matchups for the London Series
The pitching matchups for the London Series are as follows: on Saturday, Justin Steele will take the mound for the Cubs, facing Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals. Steele has been impressive this season with a 2.71 ERA over 73 innings, while Wainwright has struggled with a 5.56 ERA over 43 2/3 innings. On Sunday, Marcus Stroman will start for the Cubs against Jack Flaherty of the Cardinals. Stroman has been performing at an All-Star level with a 2.28 ERA over 98 2/3 innings, while Flaherty carries a 4.95 ERA over 80 innings.
London Stadium is expected to provide an interesting playing environment. In the previous London series, a total of 50 runs were scored over two games. To address this, MLB has made adjustments by moving the fences back for the Cardinals-Cubs series. Center field will be seven feet deeper, and right-center and left-center will be pushed back approximately five feet. However, the foul poles will remain at around 330 feet, suggesting that the park will still offer a relatively small playing field compared to most MLB stadiums.
Finally. A time-lapse of London Stadium turning into a baseball field.
🇺🇸|🇬🇧
— Shawn Spradling (@Shawn_Spradling) June 22, 2023
How to Watch:
Saturday’s contest will be televised by Fox and is scheduled to start at 1:10 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s game will be televised by ESPN and is scheduled for a 10:10 a.m. ET start time.
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