THE LONGEST DAY IN LONDON TOWN

Source: AP Photo/Tim Ireland

The United Kingdom and the United States assembled in an unlikely venue on Saturday evening as the Yankees battled the Boston Red Sox in London Stadium.  Twelve players crossed home plate in the first full inning of play, an inning which lasted just under one hour and ended in a 6-6 tie.

With the field assembled for baseball, supplies from the United States and Canada were brought in to transform the stadium to be baseball-ready.  This London Series is the real deal, with two division rivals and arguably the most celebrated rivalry in all of sports kicking off a multi-year series with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs slated to play next June. 

Source: AP Photo/Tim Ireland

"The eyeballs that are on this over here, with the best rivalry in our sport, hopefully that’s something that can contribute [to the growth of baseball],” said the Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, embracing, like all his colleagues, the role of settler in new sporting lands. “A lot of the families are here, and yesterday a lot of our guys got to go out and experience things. But it is a business trip. We’re playing the Sox and that does tend to get your motor running hot,” reported the Guardian. 

Watching from my living room, the outfield seems to go on forever as both teams just creamed the ball, runners raced around the base paths and outfielders raced to just launch the ricocheting ball back into the infield.  A field meant for soccer had both teams crossed up for sure, but only one team will be left standing, following several hours of game play, seemingly the longest day of the year for both teams.

We will have other reactions and more insight in a follow-up piece tomorrow morning right before first pitch at 10:00 a.m. EST. 

--Suzie Pinstripe
BYB Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof