Major League Baseball

New York Mets to play Philadelphia Phillies in 2024 MLB London Series

Updated Jun. 23, 2023 12:45 p.m. ET

The New York Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies will play a two-game series in London next season, as Major League Baseball takes another storied rivalry abroad.

Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the June 8-9 games at London Stadium on Friday ahead of this weekend's series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs beginning Saturday (1:10 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

"We think our game is at its best when we have traditional rivals playing, and we want to show the fans here in London the very best form of baseball," Manfred said.

The first MLB series in the British capital — and in Europe — featured the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in 2019.

[FOX Sports Insider: MLB's London Series presents a real opportunity to grow baseball overseas]

"We want to show our best when we come someplace special like London," Manfred added. "We do regard London to be special — of strategic importance to us."

The Mets-Phillies series had been widely reported earlier, though league officials held off on an announcement until the eve of the Cardinals-Cubs series.

Manfred spoke at a news conference Friday before Cardinals and Cubs players worked out on the artificial turf at the home of Premier League soccer club West Ham.

The Yankees are lobbying to play in Paris in 2025. The league hasn’t confirmed the French capital yet, but the players’ association signed off on MLB holding a game in Paris in 2025 as part of last year’s collective bargaining agreement.

"We are in the process of working on Paris in 2025," Manfred said in response to a question from a French journalist. "We’re not at the point where we’re going to make a commitment or make a formal announcement, but it is in the planning stages and was part of the general program that was laid out in the basic agreement."

Reporting by The Associated Press.