Cubs to play in 2027 Little League Classic against Toronto
The Cubs are returning to Williamsport, Pa.
The Cubs will play the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2027 Little League Classic, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Sunday night. The national game is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 19, 2027, on ESPN. The Cubs, slated to be the road team, will get the next day off and then play two more games that weekend against the Blue Jays in Toronto.
It will be MLB’s 10th Little League Classic, which first was played in 2017; the showcase game was not played during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The Cubs faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2019 in Williamsport, a 7-1 win.
Left fielder Ian Happ was part of the 2019 team and struck out against now-teammate Clay Holmes in a pinch-hit at-bat during the Cubs’ last Little League Classic appearance. Although he never played in Williamsport as a Little Leaguer, the Pittsburgh native remembers driving through the town on the way to a different tournament. Happ and his family made a pit stop long enough to get out of the car and check out how packed Bowman Field was for the Little League World Series.
“It was a really cool day,” Happ told the Tribune of being part of the 2019 Little League Classic. “Of all the events we’ve played in over the years, it was probably the busiest. … The most memorable part of the day was just being out there with the kids and touring everything. But it was really cool to be a part of.”
Outfielder Michael Conforto understands what this event means from both sides. He was part of the Little League Classic in 2018 with the New York Mets and also played in the 2004 Little League World Series, representing the Northwest Region with his Redmond North team from Washington.
“It was the ultimate baseball experience for me up to that point,” Conforto told the Tribune. “And then I rode that through the rest of my youth sports playing time.”
Most of Conforto’s memories from his Little League World Series experience centered around the time he spent with his teammates and friends in Williamsport: going to the pool, pin trading, hanging out in the barracks and the arcade. Conforto described it as their version of Disneyland.
“I just remember I couldn’t believe that ESPN cared enough to put us on TV and Harold Reynolds was calling the games and they treated it like it was real major-league baseball,” Conforto said. “I remember having feelings of this is the coolest thing ever, the attention’s on us. And so I think for a lot of kids, it’s if I can do this, then this is what I want to do. That’s how it was for me.
“Whether or not you go on to play baseball, it just gives those kids this great sense of accomplishment and a reward for all the hard work that they’ve done. It puts them in a good place to move on to whatever they do in their lives, and I’m thankful for the lucky ride that we had to get there.”
When Conforto returned to Williamsport with the Mets in 2018, all of those moments came rushing back. He was summoned onto the field before the first pitch and presented with a painting of himself as a Little Leaguer with him as a Met behind it.
Conforto has the distinction of being one of only three players — along with Ed Vosberg and Jason Varitek — to appear in the Little League World Series, the NCAA Men’s College World Series (with Oregon State in 2013) and the World Series (with the Mets in 2015).
“It’s almost surreal,” Conforto said. “I guess you have to be on some good teams, and I do think my family just put me in good positions to play on good teams. And that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do: find the best team and be a part of that.
“And even up until last year and this year, as I’m getting closer to the end than the beginning, the most important thing for me is being on a winning effort and doing that kind of thing. It was that way even from the beginning.”
The Cubs’ selection to a second Little League Classic bookends a stretch of being chosen by MLB for marquee events. Since participating in the 2019 Little League Classic, the Cubs have played in the Field of Dreams game (2022), London Series (2023) and Tokyo Series (2025).
“That’s one of the cool parts about being a Cub is that you are invited to do a lot of these things, and we’ve been lucky to do a whole bunch of them,” Happ said. “The Little League Classic was kind of the first one of the series and the things that we’ve gotten into. They’re really cool opportunities to grow the game and to play in different venues and let fans and people see all these different things, and I hope we continue to do more of them.”