2019 College World Series week to open with MLB regular-season game
The 2019 College World Series will kick off with a regular-season MLB game between the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers in Omaha, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
Sources “close to the situation” confirmed to AP that the event is in the works, and that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred will officially announce it in a news conference Thursday at TD Ameritrade Park, the host site.
The stadium seats 24,505, but is listed as “expandable to 40,000.” Field dimensions are comparable to a Major League park: 335 feet down the left-field line, 408 feet to center, and 375 down the right-field line.
MLB making efforts to expand domestically, internationally
The move is part of a concerted MLB effort to bring the game to new domestic locales. Last season, the Pittsburgh Pirates played the St. Louis Cardinals in Williamsport, Pennsylvania before the Little League World Series, and the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies are slated to play there in August this year. No tickets were made available to the public for the 2017 contest.
In 2016, the Atlanta Braves played the Miami Marlins at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina, becoming the first professional teams to compete on an active military base. For that game, tickets were limited to Department of Defense employees and their family members.
Internationally, MLB has in the past played games in Tokyo, Puerto Rico, Australia, Mexico, and the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners will open 2019 in Japan again.
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