Major League Baseball has arrived in the UK, how about an Edinburgh Series? - Liam Rudden

Arguably the best known baseball teams in the world, the inaugural London Series brought the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees to British soil.

Under the banner ‘Old Rivalry, New Ground’ both teams battled it out in front of around 60,000 fans each day, the stadium, normally home to West Ham, having been transformed into an impressive baseball park.

Got to say though, while the atmosphere was good. Nothing quite beats the experience of attending baseball in the States.

The first ball game I ever attended was a Yankee’s clash with the Chicago White Sox in Yankee Stadium - the home team won four runs to nil.

That was in 2012. A couple of years later my second game took me to Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, up against the Washington Nationals, they lost 8-2 that day.

In 2016 and 2017 I pledged my allegiance to the Toronto Blue Jays, having taken in a couple games while in Canada.

On both occasions Blue Jays won, although they’re struggling right now.

I quickly discovered the baseball itself is only a small part of a day at the ballpark. A family day out, the atmosphere, from the walk to the stadium to the pregame and in game entertainment is every bit as important.

The London Series brought much of that tradition to the UK with the ceremonial throwing of the first pitch and a dramatic introduction to the teams - the booming voice of the announcer and lots of flames and smoke.

The in-game entertainment included a bobble-head race, The Freeze, various competitions involving the crowd, the obligatory seventh innings stretch and a blast of, altogether... Y.M.C.A.

Despite all the fun, the atmosphere remained peculiarly British, however. In the Land of the Free vendors roam the stadium selling ice cold beers and water and you’re never far from a hot dog stand - beer and hot dogs, nothing screams baseball more.

While London had monster hot dogs - two foot long Boomsticks sold for £24 - the roaming vendors were, bizarrely, dispensing Pimms and cocktails. All very English.

I imagine the real reason things didn’t quite reach the fever-pitch of a US game was the number of casual viewers still getting their heads around the rules - thankfully I was surrounded by Red Sox fans who were never off their feet, despite the final result.

The first game itself was a cracker, New York’s all star cast eventually winning 17-13 (a huge number of runs) in a game that lasted a mammoth four hours 43 minutes.

It’ll be interesting to see how the St Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs follow that in 2020.

It got me wondering if we’ll ever see an MLB Edinburgh Series.

Murrayfield Stadium would be the perfect venue. I tell you, I’d be there. Go Blue Jays!