Reports: Tigers, Royals to play 2019 game in Omaha to kick off College World Series
Weather is wreaking havoc on the 2018 College World Series, but it apparently isn't deterring Major League Baseball from showing up in 2019. According to multiple reports Wednesday, the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals will play a regular-season game in Omaha, Neb., the week the 2019 CWS begins. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is scheduled to make an announcement Thursday at TD Ameritrade Park, host site of the CWS. Citing "two people close to the situation," the AP reported that both MLB and the NCAA have been working on a plan in which a regular-season MLB game would be played in Omaha to serve as a kickoff to the CWS. ESPN's Mitch Sherman added Wednesday that the Tigers-Royals game will be played June 13 of next year, and be the third game of a three-game series between the teams. Games 1 and 2 would be played in Kansas City. It would be similar to regular-season games MLB has held in Williamsport, Pa., in conjunction with the Little League World Series, according to both reports. The Omaha World-Herald reported that Manfred's announcement will be made in coordination with the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Kansas City Royals' Triple-A affiliate. The World-Herald also noted that D1Baseball.com earlier this year reported that MLB had been considering moving the amateur draft to Omaha. Omaha has served as host to the College World Series since 1950. This year, the event has been marred by numerous weather delays bumping several games back. Wednesday was originally scheduled to have just one game, but weather moved Arkansas vs. Texas Tech back from Tuesday night to Wednesday at noon ET. But that game, the first of a doubleheader at TD Ameritrade Park, was pushed back an additional three-and-a-half hours because of weather. --Field Level Media
