After sweeping the Washington Nationals, the New York Mets have officially hit the road for Major League Baseball’s World Tour where they will face the Philadelphia Phillies in London on June 8-9.
This will be just the third time ever that the Mets will play regular-season games outside of the United States and the first time they will play in England — a nation with direct roots in the evolution of baseball. They played the San Diego Padres in Monterrey, Mexico in 1996 and the Chicago Cubs at the famed Tokyo Dome in Japan to kick off the 2000 season.
“I am really excited to go over there and experience the whole thing again and it’ll be fun,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said (h/t SNY). “You have to treat it as a business trip. Obviously, it’s in a different country, but the games count. Our preparation will be the same, the intensity, the focus.”
Here is everything you need to know before first pitch across the pond:
2024 MLB London Series: Mets vs. Phillies
- Dates: Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9
- Times (ET): 1 p.m. (June 8), 10 a.m. (June 9)
- TV: FOX (June 8), ESPN (June 9)
- Venue: London Stadium
- Capacity: 60,000
- Tenant: West Ham United (English Premier League)
- June 8 probable pitchers: Sean Manaea (NYM) vs. Ranger Suarez (PHI)
- June 9 probable pitchers: Jose Quintana (NYM) vs. Taijuan Walker (PHI)
The Mets are attempting to claw their way out of a miserable start to the 2024 season after sweeping the Nationals to move to 27-35 on the season, still eight games under .500. They’ll be put to the test against a Phillies team that is currently the hottest in baseball right now.
At 44-19, Philadelphia is tied for the best record in MLB with the New York Yankees and is having its best start to a season in franchise history, overcoming an 8-8 start to go 36-11 over their last 47 games. It has allowed them to build a significant cushion already in the NL East, up 8.0 games over the second-place Atlanta Braves and 16.5 games over the fourth-place Mets.
If it was not a big enough challenge to face one of the top teams in the game, New York will be doing so while jumping five time zones ahead in London.
“Yeah, it’s in a different country, different atmosphere, different ballpark,” Mendoza began, but we’re going to be playing a really good team in the Phillies. And our job is to go out there and get the job done. That’s how we’re going to treat it.”
