Cubs, Cards to visit London in 2023
Kris Bryant famously complained that St. Louis is boring a few years ago. Maybe this trip will be more exciting for everyone.
The Cubs and Cardinals will play a two-game series in London on June 24-25, 2023, at the baseball-configured London Stadium.
This is basically a reschedule from 2020, when the Cubs and Cards were scheduled to make this trip, but it was canceled due to the pandemic. The Yankees and Red Sox played MLB's first regular-season games in Europe in 2019.
"I'm excited, really excited to be able to go over there," Cubs manager David Ross said Thursday. "To be able to go over there, I think it's a lot like the Field of Dreams game, to play somewhere different, to play a big rivalry game over there like we saw a few years ago with the Yankees and Red Sox."
The venue is the stadium built to host the 2012 London Olympics. The Cubs are set to play Cincinnati in the second Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa next Thursday.
Newcomb called up:
The Cubs called up Sean Newcomb from Triple A Iowa to start Thursday's Game 2 in St. Louis. He pitched 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on a first-inning homer by Nolan Arenado. As a corresponding move, David Bote was sent to Iowa.
The Cubs got Newcomb from Atlanta on April 21 in a trade for pitcher Jesse Chavez, but he posted a 16.62 ERA in four appearances out of the bullpen with the Cubs.
The left-hander went back to Iowa, fared better and started one game. The Cubs brought up pitcher Matt Dermody from Iowa to be the extra player for the doubleheader.
Justin Steele was supposed to start Wednesday's game against the Cardinals that got rained out. He's now slated to start Friday's home game against Miami, which will be a quick turnaround with a 1:20 start following a night game in St. Louis.
Sweep complete:
Two Cubs debuts went poorly Thursday as the Cardinals won 7-2 in Game 2 to complete a three-game series sweep.
Right-hander Kervin Castro, claimed off waiver from San Francisco, took the mound in the seventh inning and gave up a tiebreaking 3-run homer to Tyler O'Neill. Lefty Matt Dermody followed Castro to the mound. He was the extra player called up for the doubleheader and made his Cubs debut last season. But in his first appearance this year, he gave up 2 runs in the eighth.
Patrick Wisdom hit his 20th home run in the first inning off former Cub Jose Quintana.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports