In the past decade, Major League Baseball (MLB) has made a significant effort to become a more international sport. Among the big four American professional sports leagues, including the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and National Hockey League (NHL), the MLB has the most international players, the vast majority coming from Latin America and Japan. Despite that, the MLB’s presence overseas was lacking compared to other sports leagues. As a result, they came up with the MLB World Tour, which plays regular season games in different countries. Let’s take a look at the history of the program as well as this year’s plans.
The History of International MLB Play
As noted, the MLB played very few international games before the MLB World Tour despite having the largest contingency of international players. Some might argue that there was a lack of necessity, as the game already had strong international appeal. The NFL, for instance, has the fewest international players of the big four American professional sports leagues. The league attempted to create NFL Europe — a league that lasted just over 15 years as a minor league system but reportedly lost up to $30 million per season. In short, NFL Europe wasn’t popular. The newest international series is the latest attempt to spark interest in American football in Europe.
On the other hand, basketball is the American sport with the most international appeal due primarily to Michael Jordan. Jordan was a global superstar unlike any American sports have seen. Unlike baseball and football, Jordan played in front of international audiences in the 1992 Olympics.
Baseball is internationally relevant, but not to the level of the NBA, and it had far less saturation in the international market than the NFL. Between 1996 and 2012, MLB played several overseas games, mostly in Mexico and Japan. However, in 2014, it began expanding, playing games in Australia for the first time, as well as in London in 2019. Since 2014, MLB has played 19 games overseas, including 14 since 2019.
Introducing the MLB World Tour
MLB had played on the international stage before. Still, these efforts were officially rebranded as the MLB World Tour in 2023, beginning with a two-game April series between the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres in Mexico. They were followed by a two-game rivalry series between the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals in the U.K., which took place in June at London Stadium.
In 2024, MLB announced plans to play at four international destinations, including London, Mexico City, Seoul, and Santo Domingo. The Santo Domingo series between the Red Sox and Rays took place between March 9 and 10 during Spring Training. The Seoul Series opened up the 2024 MLB regular season schedule with a two-game series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, the Dodgers among the favorites in MLB odds. This series drew extreme interest in South Korea as both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto debuted with the Dodgers, with Yamamoto making his MLB debut. These two games saw massive crowds at the Gocheok Sky Dome, which holds just under 17,000 people — far smaller than the average MLB stadium.
Los Angeles won the first game, with Ohtani going 2–5 with an RBI out of the DH spot. The Padres won the next game, scoring five runs off Yamamoto in the first inning, giving the rookie a rude welcome to the big leagues moment. Despite that, the Dodgers were within a run heading into the 9th inning before San Diego put up three runs to secure the win in a 15–11 shootout.
What International Destinations Are on the Schedule?
The Dodgers-Padres series is the only MLB World Tour series that has taken place so far, but there are two more on the books.
Astros vs. Rockies | April 27–28, Mexico City
The series between the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies marks the second MLB World Tour series in Mexico City, almost a year to the date after last year’s inaugural series. Both franchises have played in Mexico before, with the Astros playing a regular season series against the Los Angeles Angels in 2019 and the Rockies playing an exhibition series against the Arizona Diamondbacks the same year.
Colorado is the home team, which makes logical sense, as the elevation in Mexico City can only be mirrored by the elevation opponents deal with playing the Rockies in Denver.
Mets vs. Phillies | June 8–9, London
The London series marks the third such series in England. Both teams are inexperienced overseas, with New York having not played an international game since 2010. Philadelphia does not have an international game in their record books. However, the excitement for this series is significant, with the Mets and Phillies bringing an explosive rivalry to the United Kingdom.
What Will 2025 Look Like?
As of today, there are no 2025 international games on the books yet. The MLB World Tour schedule will likely be announced with the rest of the MLB schedule later in the year. However, as the MLB expands its footprint, international fans can expect more baseball to come their way.