MLB…London Stadium transforms from soccer stadium to baseball field for Game 2

Series in London for first time in four years…Cubs blow out St. Louis 9-1 in Game 1

By Kyung-yoon Kim = Major League Baseball (MLB), the American professional baseball league that dreams of globalizing baseball, played a regular season game in London, the capital of the United Kingdom, the “end of soccer,” for the first time in four years온라인카지노.

The Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals, traditional rivals, played the first game of the ‘London Series’ at London Stadium on April 24 (local time).

The Cubs pounded out 14 hits to defeat St. Louis 9-1 and extend their winning streak to four games.

Mike Tuckman, who played for the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO last year, batted leadoff for the Cubs, going 1-for-5 with a home run, one RBI and one run scored.

St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright took the loss, allowing seven runs on 11 hits in three innings.

Tommy Hyun-Soo Edman, a member of the 2023 World Baseball Classic (WBC) Korea team, started in the leadoff spot for St. Louis and went 1-for-4 with a run scored.

The two teams will play Game 2 at the same venue on Sept. 25 before returning to the United States.

For just two games, MLB spent an enormous amount of time and money.

The London Stadium is a sports complex that serves as the home of West Ham United of the English professional soccer Premier League. It served as the main venue for the 2012 London Olympics.

MLB gutted the stadium to host the London Series.

MLB removed the soccer field turf and laid the grass on top of 4,000 tons of aggregate to level the surface.

They also built special bleachers and converted the rectangular stadium into a baseball field.

That’s not all. The team’s dugouts and clubhouse were prefabricated.

The game was a big deal. A total of 54,662 people cheered for both teams in the stadium.

The London Series began in 2019. At that time, “traditional rivals” the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox played at London Stadium.

From 2020 to last year, the series was suspended due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) before resuming this year.

MLB plans to return to the London Series in 2024 and 2026. In 2025, the organization plans to play in Paris, France.

The World Tour will likely be held in South Korea. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred recently said, “We’re going to have world tours in South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan.”