Major League Baseball is almost back, and players will be traveling abroad this season more than ever before. The MLB has decided to increase the number of international games in this year’s schedule with the new “MLB World Tour.”
The MLB explained that this world tour will bring MLB teams and players to the league’s global fan base. The MLB picks teams that will bring high-profile players and team rivals to fans across the globe.
The international tour will kick off with a spring training series between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays in the Dominican Republic on March 9-10.
“It’s cool for those teams, that they get to go somewhere new during spring training,” said John Nagy, a senior mass communication major. “I don’t know if I would want to go somewhere during the season.”
In past years, the league has done Opening Day abroad and stuck with that this year. There has not been an international opening game since 2019, but it is being brought back this season.
The Los Angeles Dodgers will play the San Diego Padres in the MLB season opener on March 20-21 in Seoul, South Korea. This series will start while all of the other teams are still playing spring training games. The game will be played at the Gocheok Sky Dome.
“I would love to play Opening Day in a foreign country,” said Tucker Sutton, a senior accounting major. “Especially in the MLB because they play so many games without a lot of changes. Baseball is so much better for international games than football.”
The next stop is Mexico in April. This is the second consecutive year that the league will play games in Mexico and marks the seventh regular season series played in the country. The Houston Astros will play the Colorado Rockies at Estadio Alfredo Harp Helú in Mexico City on April 27-28.
In early June, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets will meet in London. The games will be played at London Stadium and will conclude the international tour. The league is returning to England, where it first played in 2019.
The original London series plans were canceled due to the pandemic. It resumed last season and has games set up for the 2024 and 2026 season. The games this season will be played June 9-10.
“Major League Baseball is smart for adding more international games and knowing teams have a ton of international fans,” said Nick Stackhouse, a senior philosophy major. “It will bring the game to eager fans overseas, which will increase the league’s popularity and revenue.”
The MLB has a long history of playing international games that started in Monterrey, Mexico, on Opening Day in 1999.
It seems in the future, the number of games played abroad will continue to grow, as the MLB and the MLB Players Association will have over 24 regular season games and 16 exhibition games played in Asia, Europe, Mexico and Latin America from the 2023 season to the 2026 season.
