Report: Nationals Park to host 2018 All-Star game
After a nearly 50-year absence, the MLB All-Star game is set to return to the nation’s capital.
According to a Washington Post report, an announcement is expected on Monday officially naming Nationals Park the host of the 2018 All-Star Game.
An announcement is expected before Monday’s season opener to name Nationals Park the host of the 2018 All-Star Game, a person familiar with the situation said. The Nationals host the New York Mets on Monday, and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will be on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Big news. There hasn’t been an MLB All-Star Game in Washington since the Senators hosted it at RFK Stadium in 1969. The Montreal Expos, the franchise that was moved to the District and morphed into the Nationals last hosted the game in 1982, so it’s been a long time coming for the city and the franchise.
This is also a promise made good by Commissioner Rob Manfred. In the coming years, Manfred is hoping to move toward a Super Bowl-type bidding process to determine which city and franchise hosts the All-Star game, but promised the event would come to Washington and Miami first. The Marlins are officially set to host the 2017 All-Star game.
The other change Manfred is bringing to the All-Star game is removing the tradition of alternating between NL and AL parks every year. As a result, this will make it four straight NL hosts, with the Cincinnati Reds set for 2015 and the San Diego Padres hosting in 2016. But there is a quirk, as the leagues will continue altering being the “home” team. That means the AL will get last at-bats in San Diego and now Washington.
As for potential future hosts, Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park and New York’s new Yankee Stadium seem like locks to host the event in the next decade. In fact, those stadiums along with Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field are the only active stadiums to never host an All-Star game. The Rays, of course, will never receive serious consideration while playing at The Trop. On the other hand, a renovated Wrigley Field should be ready for its close up by 2019.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
