Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals draw 2023 MLB London Series but baseball is the winner as America’s pastime takes over
Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals lit up London and shared the spoils as they brought their historic rivalry to the UK in the MLB London Series.
Football fans would say it was a game of two halves as the Cubs dominated game one 9-1 and the Cards won day two 7-5 in a sensational weekend of baseball action at the London Stadium
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More than 110,000 people visited West Ham’s home ground across two days for a different kind of ball sport, as America’s pastime staged its latest takeover of the English capital.
People came for the mouthwatering selection of food and enough merchendise to make your credit card weep, but the game was the main event.
Chicago put on a show on Saturday as their opponents struggled to get anything right, but it was a different story on Sunday as St Louis roared back from four runs down to win and ensure both sides went home reasonably happy.
This series has been a long-time coming - initially scheduled for 2020 after New York Yankees swept Boston Red Sox in the inaugural London Series a year earlier in 2019, the Cubs vs Cards showdown was cancelled due to COVID.
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MLB were keen to keep the plans alive, though, and after a long three-year wait the UK’s thriving baseball community was finally able to enjoy only the second baseball series ever played in Europe.
The Cardinals were looking to make amends on Sunday after a dominant Saturday for their rivals, with team manager Oliver Marmol insisting they would make it right after a disappointing outing.
The Cubs scored three home runs in a 9-1 victory that was as one-sided as it sounds.
Things only went from bad to worse for St Louis when action resumed for game two on Sunday - Chicago went 4-0 up after their first inning in the second game, with all runs as a result of errors from Cards players.
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Ian Happ was the stand-out performer for the Cubs in game one, scoring home runs in back-to-back at bats to send them on their way - Dansby Swanson scoring the other.
Speaking of Swanson, Parks and Recreation star Nick Offerman, who plays iconic character Ron Swanson, made an appearance in the seventh inning to lead the crowd in a chorus of ‘Take Me Out To The Ballgame’ in the traditional ‘seventh inning stretch’ - complete with a Cubs ‘Swanson’ jersey on his back.
He wasn’t the only famous face in attendance, either, with Cubs-mad Hollywood legend Bill Murray spotted in the crowd, as was iconic St Louis native John Goodman - who took to the stage in the seventh inning in game two.
But things weren’t as straightforward for the Cubs on Sunday as the Cardinals soon found their groove with consistent hitting and manager Marmol came through with his promise.
And while they ended the weekend with no home runs - to Chicago’s three from game one - by the bottom of the second inning they had clawed the score back to 4-3, with runs added in the third, fourth and fifth to make it 7-4, with the Cubs pulling back a run in the ninth to make the final score 7-5 to the Cards.
It was a remarkable comeback, given how out of the race they were on Saturday and how poorly they began on Sunday.
And so the series may have been a draw, but there definitely was a winner of the weekend - baseball.
Corny, yes - sorry - but after two days of Brits embracing America’s historic sport, it feels like there could be some real momentum built ahead of MLB’s return in 2024.
UK-based baseball fanatics will not have to wait as long to get their fill again with New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies next to make the transatlantic flight.
And given the success of 2023’s games and the profile of 2024’s next big rivalry, it could be the biggest London Series yet.
Fans can keep up to date with the latest information about the MLB London Series .
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