Major League Baseball (MLB) has played multiple regular season games outside of the United States and Canada. [1] Beginning with the 2023 season, these games are branded as MLB World Tour. [2]
To date, major-league regular-season games have been contested in five countries outside of the United States and Canada: Australia (Sydney), Japan (Tokyo), Mexico (Mexico City and Monterrey), South Korea (Seoul), and the United Kingdom (London).
The first MLB World Tour games (as they are now known) were contested in Mexico in 1996 and 1999. From 2000 through 2012, eight such games were contested, all in Japan. Two games were played in Australia in 2014, followed by three games in Mexico in 2018. The 2019 season saw a total of eight games played in Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. Following a three year pause, Mexico and the United Kingdom each hosted a two-game series in 2023. Six games, to be played in three different countries, have been scheduled for 2024.
Exhibition contests, such as preseason games or postseason all-star games, are not included in the list below. Several such contests can be found in the See also section.
In May 2019, MLB announced that the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals would play a two-game series in London in June 2020, to be known as the 2020 MLB London Series. Additionally, in December 2019, the league announced that the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres would play a two-game series in Mexico City in April 2020. These would have been the first regular-season MLB games in Mexico City. [35] Both of these series were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36] [37]
Estadio Hiram Bithorn in San Juan, Puerto Rico, has hosted 49 MLB games since 2001. [1] As Puerto Rico is a United States commonwealth, these games are not included in the above table.
The Montreal Expos played 43 "home" games at Estadio Hiram Bithorn during 2003 and 2004. [38]
Excluding Expos games, below is a list of neutral-site games played in Puerto Rico:
Season | Date | Designated visitor | Score | Designated home team | Attendance | Stadium | City | Country | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | April 1 | Texas Rangers | 1–8 | Toronto Blue Jays | 19,891 | Estadio Hiram Bithorn | San Juan | Puerto Rico | [39] |
2010 | June 28 | New York Mets | 3–10 | Florida Marlins | 18,073 | [40] | |||
June 29 | New York Mets | 6–7 | Florida Marlins | 18,373 | [41] | ||||
June 30 | New York Mets | 6–5 | Florida Marlins | 19,232 | [42] | ||||
2018 | April 17 | Cleveland Indians | 6–1 | Minnesota Twins | 19,516 | [43] | |||
April 18 | Cleveland Indians | 1–2 | Minnesota Twins | 19,537 | [44] |
In August 2019, MLB announced a three-game series between the New York Mets and Miami Marlins at Estadio Hiram Bithorn to be played in April 2020. [45] This series was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36]
As part of the collective bargaining agreement to end the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, MLB announced a plan to have additional games played internationally, including regular-season games in Tokyo, Seoul, Mexico City, London, and Paris between 2023 and 2026. [46] Beginning with the 2023 season, games outside the U.S. and Canada are branded as "MLB World Tour". [2]
The MLB Mexico City Series was first contested in 2023 at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú. The San Diego Padres won both games against the San Francisco Giants. [47]
In 2024, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays played two games during spring training on March 9–10 at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo; [48] the Red Sox won both games. [49] [50] The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres opened the regular season at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, with each team winning one game. The MLB Seoul Series included the first regular season games to be played in Korea. [51] [52]
Also during 2024, the Houston Astros and the Colorado Rockies will play at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City on April 27–28, and the New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies will play at London Stadium in London, as part of the MLB London Series, on June 8–9. [53] [54]
On April 3, 2024, the commissioner of Japanese baseball, Sadayuki Sakakibara, told reporters that the 2025 MLB season would open in Japan on March 19–20, which would be the first MLB games played in the country since 2019 (and the first played under World Tour branding); teams and location have yet to be confirmed, [55] and MLB has yet to confirm Sakakibara's statement.
MLB plans to host games at the Stade de France, just outside Paris, starting in 2025. The games will be the first MLB regular-season games to be contested in mainland Europe. The new Stade de France series is intended to alternate with the London series, which began in 2019 and resumed in 2023 following a three-season pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MLB plans to hold games in London in 2024, followed by Paris in 2025, and then in London again in 2026. [56] The Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees have informed MLB that they would like to participate in the 2025 Paris series. [57] [58]
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