Yankees, Red Sox to play in London twice next season
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will face each other in two regular-season games at the Olympic Stadium in London next year, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Tuesday.
Boston will be the home team for both of MLB’s first games in Europe on June 29 and 30, 2019. The stadium will have a capacity of 55,000 in a baseball configuration.
MLB said it also “commit- ted to playing in London in 2020 and our intention is to establish a long-term foot- print in the city.”
The NFL has played 21 regular-season games in London since 2007. Three more are scheduled for this year, including one at Tottenham’s new stadium. The NBA and NHL have also held regu- lar-season games in London.
“The stadium infrastruc- ture in this city gives Major League Baseball every oppor- tunity to put on a first-class event,” Manfred said. “We hope this series will be the beginning of a relationship with London that persists and a continuation of increasing exposure for Major League Baseball in Europe.”
MLB has put renewed emphasis on international games since Manfred became commissioner in 2015. Cleve- land and Minnesota played a two-game series last month in Puerto Rico and the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego played three games in Monterrey, Mexico, last week. MLB announced Tuesday that Oakland and Seattle will open next season at the Tokyo Dome on March 20-21.
Blue Jays: Closer Roberto Osuna was charged with assault and put on administrative leave by Major League Baseball. Police declined to say whether it was domestic assault. Const. Jenifferjit Sidhu said the charge is for one count of assault, and provided no further details.
The 23-year-old reliever is scheduled to appear in court June 18.
Major League Baseball said in a statement it “takes all allegations of this nature very seriously” and is investigat- ing. The Blue Jays said they “fully support” MLB’s decision to place Osuna on leave.
Giants: RHP Johnny Cueto has a right elbow strain and will miss six to eight weeks. ... OF Hunter Pence had the clock stopped on his rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento after experiencing soreness in his right thumb that he sprained on April 19.
Mets: In a 7-6 win over the Reds on Monday, left-hander P.J. Conlon lasted 3⅔ innings in his major league debut, filling in with Jacob deGrom on the disabled list because of a hyperextended elbow. Conlon was born in Belfast, and his family moved to California a couple years later. He’s the 46th player born in Ireland or Northern Ireland to play in the majors. The last was Joe Cleary with the Washington Senators in 1945.
Cubs: Placed struggling right-hander Yu Darvish on the 10-day DL with the flu. Darvish is 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in his first season with Chicago after finalizing a $126 million, six-year contract.
Tigers: Plans are moving forward for a $30 million mixed-use development at part of the site of the former Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers moved to Comerica Park after the 1999 season. The last portion of the old ballpark was demolished in 2009.