After a successful debut in 2017, the Little League Classic will return to BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field in August 2018. Next year’s matchup will see the Philadelphia Phillies square off against the New York Mets.
The special Regular Season contest, as well as ancillary activities by each club, will take place on Sunday, August 19th, with the game airing nationally that evening on ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” and ESPN Radio at 7:00 p.m. (ET).
MLB and the MLBPA will host the next iteration of the “MLB Little League Classic,” which successfully launched in August 2017 with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals, at the renovated Historic Bowman Field, the home of the Williamsport Crosscutters (Short Season A; NY-Penn League). Once again, the participating players, coaches and families of the 2018 Little League Baseball World Series, as well as local Williamsport youth baseball & softball organizations, will fill a significant portion of the capacity at Bowman Field.
Major Leaguers on the Phillies and Mets will attend Little League Baseball World Series games earlier in the day on August 19th, which again demonstrates the players’ passion and commitment to helping grow the game at the youth level.
Historic Bowman Field, in which Major League Baseball and the State of Pennsylvania invested a multi-million dollar renovation prior to the 2017 MLB Little League Classic, opened in 1926. It is the second oldest Minor League ballpark in the United States. More than 560 Major Leaguers, including Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan, Bill Mazeroski, Jim Rice and Jim Bunning, have worn a professional baseball uniform for Williamsport.