MLB season preview: The future’s bright for Major League Baseball as game finally sets sail for Europe

Even die-hard followers can struggle to keep up with the relentless length of a baseball season.

There will be 2,430 major league games during the regular season this year with many more occurring in the minor leagues, the majority of these lacking context until the pointy end of the season is reached.

It is an odd sport that exists in a sphere of perpetuality that can cause it to bubble below the surface without truly imprinting on the consciousness of even the most eclectic of sports fans.

Baseball continues unceasing throughout the summer, and while that never-ending nature can be beneficial in terms of revenue, it does perhaps hinder growth, particularly in saturated markets that can brush the game aside.

This is, perhaps, a reason the sport has failed to translate to a British audience, but as the 2019 season begins in earnest, Major League Baseball is looking ahead, and the future looks bright for the growth of the sport.

This year offers the perfect opportunity for the sport to pervade these shores as it brings the game to Europe for the first time with the London Series, a two-game affair between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees in late June.

It is the last of America’s ‘Big Four’ leagues to host games here, which puts it on the backfoot rather, but the boat has not necessarily been missed.

Alex Rodriguez is particularly bullish on his sport’s potential growth. The former Yankees superstar, now working in the media as a commentator and personality, believes the path has been shown by American football.

“Many years ago when the NFL first went across-the-pond we never thought that we’d be here so many years later doing fantastically,” Rodriguez says.

“I think the same can be true for baseball. Our goal is to make the game a global sport. We are incredibly embedded in Latin America, embedded in Japan and obviously London is one of the greatest markets in the world. I actually think it is custom made for London and the fans.”

As a model to shape the experiment on, MLB should not look further than the NFL, the best example of introducing a sport into the mainstream in a new market. With their events around the London games, the NFL is able to instil a sense of community, a common fandom, even across traditional rivalries within the league.

The NFL’s great success in introducing the sport to the United Kingdom was their ability to make American football simultaneously niche and, more crucially, a big deal. The initial Wembley games had their share of pomp, circumstance and razzmatazz, but at their heart they were places for fans to congregate and converse with like-minded individuals, energising a relatively small fanbase.

That Shahid Khan was so interested in buying Wembley and London so frequently comes up in relocation discussions should serve to highlight just how American football has grown. Those inside baseball believe their sport has similar potential.

The early returns are strong; both games sold out quickly. MLB carefully chose their location, settling on the London Stadium, partly for its history, partly for its practicality, partly for its adaptability.

The arena will be transformed for the games, with plans to integrate traditionally styled clubrooms into the athletic warm-up areas. Baseball is a hospitable sport, and efforts are being made to replicate that friendly nature with vendors that blend the charms of the more genteel American sporting experience with the unique British sporting enthusiasm, all in pursuit of making the games the best event possible.

For while two teams are being lined-up for next year’s game (the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals have been heavily rumoured in the US) the experiment will fail if the experience is not a good one. For while there may be a certain contingent of novelty-seekers among the attendees of the inaugural series, MLB has to keep the audience coming back. In a large arena with tickets highly-priced, that might not be easy.

It is, therefore, important that MLB is kicking off their new venture with their two most-storied franchises and one of sport’s great rivalries.

Marketability is key, of course – you can scarcely move in London without sighting a Yankees logo – but sport lives and dies by the contest, and thus of equal importance is that these are two of the league’s best teams.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone recognised “Obviously the Red Sox won the World Series, we won 100 games we feel like it’s two teams that are going to fight it out and have real championship hopes, with a lot of star players in the prime of their careers.”

The Red Sox count reigning American League Most Valuable Player Mookie Betts and Hank Aaron Award (best hitter) winner J.D. Martinez in their ranks, while both teams have well-stocked pitching corps.

Rodriguez, however, believes the Yankees’ stars have the chance to really capture the imagination.

“You are not going to believe the size of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton. These guys are like ginormous, they’re great people.”

Judge and Stanton are two of the most powerful hitters in the game and helped their team break the home run record last season. Plenty are tipping them for a trip to the World Series this year – but the defending champion Red Sox will push them all the way in the AL East division, and the star-studded Houston Astros loom large come playoff time.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are popular picks to repeat in the National League, and there’s a strong chance that one of the London Series’ combatants faces them. Much as football takes Europe’s best sides to far-flung corners during preseason, the chance to see the very best the game has to offer should entice and intrigue fans.

The stage seems ideally set for baseball to make its mark on the UK. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and MLB are ready to hit it out of the park.

The Boston Red Sox will play the New York Yankees in the first ever Mitel & MLB Present London Series 2019 on June 29 – 30 at London Stadium. For all the latest event updates, register at mlb.com/londonseries