NEW YORK — Major League Baseball has abandoned plans to play two games in London next season because of scheduling issues with West Ham’s Olympic Stadium and the sport’s television partner.<\/p>\n
MLB had hoped to have the New York Yankees<\/a> and Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> meet in London on June 13 and 14, but West Ham is home for its Premier League finale against Leeds on May 24. That left too little time to convert the field to baseball, and MLB was unable to schedule games there for later in June because Fox lacked available broadcast slots due to World Cup commitments.<\/p>\n Commissioner Rob Manfred said the London games were definitely off during a question-and-answer session after Front Office Sports’ “Tuned In” event.<\/p>\n MLB played in London for the first time in 2019, when the Yankees swept two games from the Boston Red Sox<\/a>. A planned two-game series between the St. Louis Cardinals<\/a> and Chicago Cubs<\/a> in 2020 was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, and series were split there by the Cardinals and Cubs in 2023 and the New York Mets<\/a> and Philadelphia Phillies<\/a> in 2024.<\/p>\n MLB’s labor contract included games in Paris for 2025, but they were called off because MLB and the players’ association couldn’t find a promoter.<\/p>\n “We remain interested in Europe. We think London is an important jumping off point for us,” Manfred said. “We have a facility that has come a long way since the first Yankee-Red Sox game. It’s a much better ballpark now than it was due to their willingness to make investments in that. We continue to believe that there’s an opportunity there and that we can get at the developed economies in Europe through that London entree.”<\/p>\n Manfred said MLB is working on grassroots initiatives in India because of that nation’s affinity for cricket.<\/p>\n “We’re really starting from the bottom up,” he said.<\/p>\n Manfred said Mexico also is a priority. MLB played regular-season games at Monterrey in 1996, 1999, 2018 and 2019, and at Mexico City in 2023 and 2024. Arizona<\/a>and San Diego<\/a>are likely to play at Mexico City next April 25 and 26.<\/p>\n “We have worked very hard to develop better relationships with the Mexican professional leagues,” Manfred said. “We think we can ultimately build those relationships in a way that they look like Japan and Korea: The domestic professional league thrives, but we have enough players coming to the U.S. to play that it drives our business here in the U.S.”<\/p>\n