MLB HAS CANCELLED THE 2025 PARIS SERIES

This announcement went a bit under the radar, but a planned MLB series in Paris, France in 2025 isn’t going to happen:

Major League Baseball has canceled plans to play regular-season games in Paris in 2025 after failing to find a promoter, two people familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity following an owners’ meeting because the decision was not announced publicly.

In the collective bargaining agreement that was agreed to between MLB and the MLB Players Association before the 2022 season, the parties agreed to something MLB has now dubbed “World Tour” which was to include games in London in 2023 (the games the Cubs and Cardinals played last June) and 2024 (the Mets and Phillies will play there next June), as well as an opening series in Korea next year (Dodgers vs. Padres) and an opening series in 2025 in Japan. In addition, MLB will play games in 2024, 2025 and 2026 in Mexico City and in 2025 and 2026 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The London Series games I attended last June were an unqualified success. In addition to many Cubs and Cardinals fans who made the trip from the USA, there were lots of fans from the UK and continental Europe who attended. Baseball also did have some impact on ordinary Londoners, such as the taxi driver who drove me to the batting practice session I attended the day before the games after the train I was going to take was cancelled due to a derailed train on the tracks. The taxi driver noticed my baseball gear and started asking a lot of questions about the game. This is exactly why MLB is doing these games, to increase visibility of the game internationally.

It’s too bad that the Paris games were cancelled. Perhaps in the future MLB will play games in the Netherlands or in Italy, where there is already interest in baseball and amateur and professional leagues.

2023-11-20T13:49:47Z dg43tfdfdgfd