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Baseball makes London return with beer bats, two-foot hot dogs and a bitter Cubs-Cardinals rivalry dating back 130 years
MAJOR League Baseball returned to England by bringing a taste of the US summer to East London this weekend.
With England gripped by the Ashes series against Australia, the American bat-and-ball sport made a cameo with a rivalry almost as old.
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The Chicago Cubs and St Louis Cardinals renewed their 'Route 66 rivalry' at the London Stadium in a two-game series.
The National League Central division sides first played back in 1892 and they brought their bitter feud to UK fans.
And even England and Australia continued their cricket battle with ahead of the showdown with the ceremonial first pitches.
England fast bowler Jimmy Anderson was joined by Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon to kick off the event.
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The Cubs were dominant in game one on Saturday night in a 9-1 victory in front of 54,662 fans.
But the Cardinals bounced back to take game two on Sunday afternoon 7-5 with 55,565 in attendance.
West Ham's London Stadium was bathed in sunshine and baking temperatures for the entire weekend.
It was the first time the MLB had been in London since the New York Yankees took on the Boston Red Sox at the same venue in 2019.
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Fans certainly had an appetite, judging by the .
A two-foot long hot-dog coming in at 2,500 calories was among the highlights along with a donut burger.
There were also beer cups in the shape of baseball bats that held a full pint on sale -
Research from ticket partners at Viagogo showed fans from 20 countries had purchased tickets for the series leading up to the games.
And UK-based supporters accounted for 66 per cent of ticket sales - up from 44 per cent in 2019.
The stadium itself underwent an 18-day transformation from West Ham's home to a baseball park.
Over 144,000 square feet of artificial turf and 345 tonnes of clay were shipped in.
MLB bosses also made changes to the playing area including pushing the fences back after the 2019 series turned into a batter's paradise.
The Yankees won 17-13 and 12-8 in the two-game series back in 2019 which were both played in front of 59,000 fans.
The MLB will return in 2024 with the .
Paris has been earmarked for 2025 before a London comeback in 2026.
Speaking on the eve of the Cubs-Cardinals series, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said: "To us, London is a really important part of our international strategy.
"We have seen great growth in baseball since we were here in 2019.
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"The number of people in Britain that identify as fans has doubled since 2019.
"We're going to make this part of our regular program and looking forward to be back next year."
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