Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Wags, London, Ozuna

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Oct 31, 2015; London, United Kingdom; General view of the King

Source: MLB making progress in talks to play regular-season series in London

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Major League Baseball is making progress in discussions with London officials about hosting a regular-season series there as early as the 2017 season, a source with knowledge of the talks confirmed to FOX Sports on Tuesday night.

Ben Rumsby of The Telegraph (London) first reported the development last weekend, writing that MLB’s talks with the group operating London’s Olympic Stadium had reached an “advanced” stage.

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The renovated stadium will have a roof, which broadens the time period during which the series could be held; previously, it was believed that a European series couldn’t occur in March or April because of weather concerns. MLB and MLB Players Association officials have discussed the possibility of playing in London around the All-Star break, with an extra day off on either end to accommodate time zone changes.

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MLB officials believe London can become key to the sport’s international business plan, with the possibility of periodic visits for regular-season games over the next decade. The logistics shouldn’t be overly difficult: A flight from Boston to London is almost the same duration as Boston to Los Angeles.

[ Ed. note… okay, but how often do teams actually travel from coast-to-coast and back again? Never mind the extra issues with international travel, customs, equipment transportation, and the like. Then again, it’s been been done: the DBacks and Dodgers went to Australia for a series and that was much worse logistically than a trip to London would be, though that one was not set up as an ‘in-line/in-season’ event. Ditto for the Tokyo excursions.

There is the “wow, this will be cool” factor to consider, though, and certainly the NFL has had no trouble in selling out Wembly for their annual ventures to England.

This news follows other reports that MLB is thinking about actual team expansion into Mexico City and games in various Carribean venues, Cuba included. It’s probably inevitable. ]

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