Last weekend MLB played their first ever regular season game in the much anticipated London Series, where the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox faced off. A step in building MLB international play.
The two games in Europe drew the highest attendance for the sporting event in 16 years. It was a crazy games between the Red Sox and Yankees, which is no surprise when these two get together. There were 50 runs in the two games and by the first inning each team already had 6 runs.
MLB is trying to broaden there horizons by expanding their international play. They are trying to make the game popular in other countries, like other sports have in the past. The future of international play looks good but it may take a while and a few issues along the way. There are some that still don’t like the idea.
The NFL and the NBA play regular season games internationally and now MLB wants to follow the trend. There is plenty of interest for MLB in London, as the fans showed in bunches for the two games. Another example of international play would be the World Baseball Classic and the recent impact on the MLB.
It was smart for MLB to use the Yankees and Red Sox in the series, considering how big both teams are. The fans got a great game with plenty of home runs as the Yankees beat up on the Red Sox. A new experience for players of both teams who got to play ambassadors for the game among European media and fans.
The London Series looks to be the first of many international series for the MLB. It will be interesting to see what they do next. The fans like to travel where there favorite team goes and this is a huge opportunity for players to play and see another country .
