The Pirates are set to host the Cardinals on Sunday, Aug. 20, but the game will be moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, per multiple reports (DKPittsburghSports.com was first).
This happens to be during the Little League World Series in Williamsport, and the game will reportedly be televised on ESPN, which also has the rights to the LLWS. So there’s going to be plenty of crossover there.
Obviously, they can’t exactly play this game on a Little League field. As noted on stltoday.com, there’s a full-size baseball field: BB&T Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field. It’s 345 feet down the left field line, 405 to center and 350 to right. It only seats 4,200 people, but MLB will surely try to find a way to beef that up before the game.
The ballpark is currently home to the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Phillies’ Class A short-season affiliate.
The special Sunday night game will be slightly reminiscent of the Braves and Marlins playing at Fort Bragg last year . It seems like MLB will try to be more creative when opportunities present themselves to play in different areas, and that’s never a bad thing.
