Hitters for the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will have to work a little harder to match the 2019 Yankees-Red Sox fights when they play in London because the fences are being pushed back.
The center field wall will be 392 feet from home plate, seven feet deeper than it was four years ago, as part of changes that Major League Baseball said came about because of the restructuring of some seats at London Stadium and not because of scores high in both of New York. win over boston
The Yankees and Red Sox combined to hit 10 home runs in two games on artificial turf at the home of Premier League club West Ham. New York won 17-13 and 12-8.
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A general view of the pitch during the opening of London Stadium in London on June 27, 2019. The baseball field to be installed at London Stadium will be slightly larger than the one in 2019. The St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs will play two games at the home of West Ham in the Premier League next weekend. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)
In other changes, power alleys are increased five feet to 387 feet, benches will be repositioned, and foul territory will be greatly reduced to make it all feel more authentic.
«When you’re at the plate and you’re looking (out), it feels like you’re in a totally different ballpark than you were in 2019,» Murray Cook, MLB’s official on-field consultant, told The Associated Press.
Even with the increase, the center field fence would be among the shortest of the majors. The 16-foot wall in center field is back: Michael Chavis’s first three-run homer for the Red Sox in Game 1 barely cleared it. It slopes down on both sides to eight feet around the rest of the gardens.
Each lane will descend 330 feet, the same as last time, but seat adjustments will bring fans closer to the field.
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Fans watch a baseball game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees on June 29, 2019, in London. The baseball ground to be installed at London Stadium will be slightly larger than the one in 2019. The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will play two games at the home of West Ham in the Premier League next weekend. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland, File)
«The new dugouts and new seating configuration launch as they normally would at the foul line, whereas in 2019 it was more of a straight line behind home plate,» Cook said.
The artificial turf is from Montreal (the 2019 turf was donated to the Farnham Park national baseball and softball complex outside London) and the clay is again from Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.
«All of these things that we’ve put in place this year we can reuse again,» Cook said.
MLB plans to host games in London in 2024 and 2026, with Paris as the host city in 2025. The Cardinals and Cubs were scheduled to play in London in 2020, but the games were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
London Stadium in 2021 upgraded to an LED lighting system. Previously, stadium lights were covered with chicken wire to protect them from flying baseballs.
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A general view of London Stadium, home of West Ham United, as the ground is transformed into a baseball ground on Thursday, June 15, 2023. The baseball ground to be installed at London Stadium will be slightly larger than the one at 2019. The St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will play two games at the home of Premier League club West Ham next weekend. (Lucy North/PA via AP)
«This year we only had to cover one panel with chicken wire, the rest is covered with a special grid that (the stadium) devised to cover each accessory,» Cook said.
The venue was built for the 2012 Olympic Games and was designed for minimal wind. It is often still called the Olympic Stadium. The capacity is 62,500 for West Ham games.
The June 2019 games drew 118,718, a mix of mostly Americans who flew in, expats living locally and Brits.