2024 MLB London Series Game Experience
My Experience at the 2024 MLB London Series, Trafalgar Square Takeover, Food Review, & Much More!
After delayed flights, more than 5,000 miles of travel, & almost a week of vacation, here is my personal experience at the 2024 MLB London Series, along with the Trafalgar Square Takeover, & other parts of my vacation.
To start off, here is some facts you should know about the series. First of all, the MLB London Series is aimed to play each year with two teams facing off on a two game series as apart of the MLB World Tour. Games are played at London Stadium in London, home of West Ham United F.C. This year, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets faced off in London on June 8th & June 9th. NY was named the home team on Saturday the 8th & Philly was the home team on Sunday June 9th. London Stadium is also a hitters ballpark, with the distance to center field being 385 feet & the distance down the foul poles being 330 feet.
Trafalgar Square Takeover
My family and I decided to go to the Trafalgar Square Takeover event on Friday as a result of us going to the game on Saturday and leaving on Sunday. For those of you who don't know what the Trafalgar Square Takeover is, it's basically an event hosted by Major League Baseball at Trafalgar Square in London. At “The Takeover”, there was an MLB Store, Topps Store, food, music, huge screens, & batting cages/bullpens for fans. The biggest event of the Trafalgar Square Takeover however, took place on Friday when former Phillie & Current MLB Ambassador to London, Chase Utley went against former Mets star Daniel Murphy in a real life/virtual home run derby. Joining them were Apollo & Fire, characters from the British Broadcasting Corporation’s TV show, Gladiators. Apollo, played by Alex Gray, a former rugby union player who also played tight end for the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL was on the Phillies’ team along with Utley. On the other hand, Fire is played by Montell Douglas, a British Olympian who became the first British women to compete in the winter and summer olympics, being a sprinter in the summer olympics as well as doing bobsled in the winter olympics. In the end, Apollo didn't seem to show up, causing Daniel Murphy & Fire to be named the 2024 Trafalgar Square Takeover Homerun Derby Champions. In addition to the batting cages, there was an MLB Shop, Topps Station to get a free custom baseball card with your picture and either the Phillies or the Mets, a ‘47 Station where you can pay to get a ‘47 hat of yours customized with paint and other materials, and a few restaurants. For those of you wondering, I did eat a hotdog and a slice of NY pizza while waiting in the extremely long lines. In addition to Chase Utley & Daniel Murphy, there were other MLB stars in attendance including former Phillies Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino along with current Phillies players Alec Bohm and Kyle Schwarber. Former Mets David Wright and Mike Piazza also attended. Almost every 15 to 30 minutes a “Let's Go Phillies *clap*clap*clap*clap*clap*” chant would start within the crowd however, both Mets and Phillies fans started chanting “Yankees Suck *clap*clap*clap*clap*clap*” together at one point too. Mr. Met and the Phillie Phantatic also appeared, and I got the opportunity to get a picture with both however, even better, I got Mr. Met to sign my 2024 Big League Baseball Card of him. Overall, the atmosphere of the 2024 Trafalgar Square Takeover was great, with more Phillies fans than Mets fans, MLB stars in attendance, chants, food, fun activities, and much more.
London Series Game Experience (Game 1)
After nearly a week traveling in the United Kingdom, the whole reason why my family took this huge trip to begin with was finally here— the 2024 MLB London Series, between my family’s favorite team, the Philadelphia Phillies & their division-rival New York Mets. Here is a few gameday info you should know before I continue— the gates opened at 3:00pm local time and first pitch time was at 6:10pm. However, when exploring London in the morning of the game, our plan was to walk to Buckingham Palace, home of the British royal family because our double-decker bus tour did not have a stop where you could see the palace from. As we were walking, we noticed a parade was going on, and it turned out, there was a rehearsal for the Trooping the Color ceremony later in June. There was a lot of people who came to watch the event which slowed down our travel. We then had to catch the underground subway to the stadium. While on the subway, I got pretty excited because Phillies manager Rob Thompson submitted the Phils’ lineup:
1. DH Kyle Schwarber
2. C J.T. Realmuto
3. 1B Bryce Harper
4. 3B Alec Bohm
5. RF Nick Castellanos
6. 2B Bryson Stott
7. SS Edmundo Sosa
8. LF Whit Merrifield
9. CF Cristian Pache
LHP Ranger Suarez (10—1) 1.81 ERA
With the slowdown, we got inside the gates at around 4:50pm, rather than our planned time of 3:00. At the stadium, there was an outdoor concourse area with an MLB Superstore & restaurants all around, inside the gates. We then made our way to the MLB Superstore but made a detour to get my MLB Ballpark Passport stamped by an employee for the Ballpark Passport company. For those of you that don’t know what that is, I will put a link to the website at the bottom of this article. Anyways, I got my passport stamped then we got in the huge line to the MLB Superstore. The line seemed to be moving quickly, however, we ended up waiting an hour and a half in the line.
Sadly, I missed the top of the 1st because of the long lines. However, I purchased a Phillies London Series On-Field Hat, the London Series Collector’s Pin (I collect them), along with a pennant. After getting to our seats in section 202, the first inning or two wasn’t very exciting as a Phillies fan, however, there was much excitement to come. After I missed his double in the top of the 1st, Bryce Harper launched a ball into the right field stands of London Stadium, then doing the iconic soccer knee slide to celebrate near Philly’s dugout.
Throughout the next 5 innings, I witnessed Whit Merrifield’s 3-run homerun, Nick Castellanos’s solo homerun, and much more action. My Phillies thankfully ended up winning the game by a final score of 7-2. To eat, I had a plain hotdog w/ ketchup, popcorn, & a drink during the game. After the game, the concourse outside of the stadium remained open & I had the Batter-Up Fish & Chips, a food the UK is known for. Overall, the food was great & out of a scale of 1 to 10, I’ll give it an 8.5/10. This game was definitely the best game of my life, & I’ve been to a ton of professional baseball games. With a great atmosphere, a Bryce Bomb, 3 Phils homeruns in total, & a Phillies win, my experience at the 2024 MLB London Series was unforgettable.
About the MLB Ballpark Possport: https://mlbballparkpassport.com/how-it-works/