All you need to know about Mets v Phillies in Londonpublished at 15:42 British Summer Time 6 June
BBC Sport
Major League Baseball returns to the UK this weekend with another of the league's biggest rivalries heading across the Atlantic with the Battle of the Broads.
That's the name given to the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies - because of Broadway in New York and Broad Street in Philadelphia.
Who are favourites for MLB London?
With New York and Philadelphia 90 miles apart on the USA's east coast, their sports teams have long been rivals and after the Dodgers and Giants relocated from the Big Apple to the west coast in the 1950s, the Mets were formed in 1962 to fill the void.
As divisional rivals in the National League East, they and the Phillies - one of the MLB's oldest clubs having been founded in 1883 - have since faced each other more than 1,000 times, with the Phillies edging their head-to-head record (551-520).
Both are two-time winners of baseball's biggest prize - the World Series - with the Mets winning in 1969 and 1986, while the Phillies triumphed in 1980 and 2008.
Who are the players to watch?
The Mets' payroll may be $309m (£241m), but the Phillies - who pay $246m (£192m) a year - signed Bryce Harper in 2019 on a then-record $330m, 13-year contract.
"As big a star as there is in the game", says Joe Posnanski, author of Why We Love Baseball. the first baseman often wears a headband featuring his nickname 'Showman'.
However, the Phillies' designated hitter Kyle Schwarber could be the player that UK fans "get the biggest kick out of".
"He's this big brute of a guy who goes up to the plate looking to do one thing and one thing only - hit the ball over the fence," Posnanski adds.
The Mets' power hitter is Pete Alonso, a burly first baseman nicknamed 'Polar Bear', while Puerto Rico shortstop Francisco Lindor is "certain to make a few dazzling plays".
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