Major League Baseball (MLB) London Series, Trafalgar Square Takeover, a three-day baseball extravaganza, is coming to London this weekend. It will see the iconic landmark transformed into a festival of baseball between June 23-25 to celebrate MLB returning to the UK, as St. Louis Cardinals take on Chicago Cubs in a 2-game series taking place at London Stadium on 24 and 25 June.

The event will be an opportunity for fans to experience MLB in the centre of the capital, with baseball activities, ballpark food, MLB merchandise and a full programme of entertainment, including live screening of MLB World Tour: London Series 2023 presented by Capital One.

Imagination has once again partnered with MLB on this celebration of baseball, creatively responsible for curating and crafting the fan festival experience.

At the heart of the experience sits ‘Home Run Derby X The Cage’, an immersive digital baseball experience. The Cage will give visitors a chance to hit home runs in Trafalgar Square in a baseball game that blends real life and virtual gameplay using ball-tracking technology. Located within an epic cage structure, players hit physical baseballs which are digitally visualised across the iconic London skyline, reaching Nelson’s column and beyond.

Opening the London Series weekend on 23 June, the showcase match-up will feature teams of MLB Legends, Superstars, and Big Hitters, representing the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and St Louis Cardinals, all competing to be crowned Home Run Derby X The Cage Champions. Other famous faces and big names from the sporting world will also take their turn in the Cage over the course of the weekend in 3v3 match-ups. 

The free-to-attend experience plays out over three days, during which visitors will also be able to watch the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs play out their 130-year rivalry on UK soil via a live broadcast on three large outdoor screens.

 “There will be no missing the MLB London Series when it returns for the first time since 2019,” said Ben Ladkin, Managing Director, MLB Europe. “Taking over Trafalgar Square, an iconic London venue, is the perfect representation of the coming together of this uniquely American sport with a growing UK fanbase. Whether you are an existing fan or a total novice, the event – featuring challenges, big screens, global stars and the full ballpark food experience – will have something for you. We’re sure that many fans for life will be created over the course of this unmissable weekend.”

Imagination has been working with MLB since 2016 on developing new baseball formats, with a number of different experiential activities helping the league to test, learn and iterate. Previous events include Europe’s first-ever Home Run Derby (2017), and London Yards (2019) - which ran alongside the historic London Series, redefining the fan experience and captivating new markets and audiences - and Home Run Derby X in 2022.