New York Yankees Keen On Playing MLB\’s 2025 Exhibition Games In Paris!

Recently, the New York Yankees continued their immaculate run of the 2022 campaign with a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Pinstripers have been unstoppable in the American League with a dominating record of 47-16. With the immense recent success, the Bronx Bombers are aiming to play an international exhibition series in Paris. A couple of sources associated with the MLB planning have revealed that the Yankees have expressed their desire to represent the sport\’s first games in Europe. The sporting body is planning to host a baseball series at the Stade de France outside of Paris in 2025. The sources requested to stay anonymous as the MLB is yet to make the details public about the French series.

However, the MLB is yet to reach any concrete decisions on teams for the games in France as they are focused on the 2023 schedule currently. Although, one of the anonymous sources also disclosed that the MLB had picked the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres for the Mexican games next season. The State de France stadium at Saint-Denis was built for the 1998 Football World Cup. It also hosted this year\’s UEFA Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid, with a capacity of 80,000.

Yankees Played Their Last International Exhibition In London 2019

The Pinstripers and the Boston Red Sox played MLB\’s last international series in London in June 2019 at the West Ham Olympic Stadium. The Yankees swept the two-match series by 17-13 and 12-8. The MLB also hosted a players\’ night before the games at the Tower of London. 

Talking about his experience, the Yankees manager Aaron Boone said that he loved it. The coach shared that the guys knew about the series from the spring training and were all excited about it. Boone remembered the excitement in the locker room a week before the scheduled departure. The Yankees coach also mentioned that it was a really positive experience for him and his team. Aaron added, \”It was a great benue and a great break in the season.\”

The Yankees and Red Sox traveled to London after Wednesday\’s day games at home. The two teams had two days off before the two-game weekend series. Moreover, Aaron Hicks became the first major league basketball player to hit a homer in England. The Yankees outfielder told that the most important thing was to get a day off to himself on track and adjust to the time zone. 

MLB\’s Future International Agreements

The MLB had planned another international series in London in 2020. St. Louis and the Chicago Cubs were picked to play in this match. But unfortunately, the series had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Thus, the two teams might be the likely options for the upcoming London games in 2023. 

As per the new collective bargain agreement, the MLB will host London games in 2024 before debuting in France in 2025 and returning back to London the following year. Further, MLB\’s other CBAs will take the teams to Mexico City from 2023-26, an Asian exhibition in 2024, and a Tokyo opener in 2025. International games have been a long-time tradition in MLB, which started with the Mexico game between the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets in 1996.