NEW YORK — Commissioner Rob Manfred intends to announce on Monday that Nationals Park in Washington will host the All-Star Game in 2018, according to a person familiar with Major League Baseball’s plans.
The person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the site of the game ahead of the official announcement.
Washington would be the fourth consecutive National League team to host baseball’s All-Star Game, following the Cincinnati Reds this year, the San Diego Padres in 2016 and the Miami Marlins in 2017.
When Miami’s turn to have the game was announced in February, MLB said leagues will continue to alternate who bats last, no matter what city stages the All-Star Game. The American League will bat last in the 2016 game at San Diego and in the 2018 game at Washington.
Manfred is scheduled to be at Nationals Park on Monday, when defending NL East champion Washington begins its season against the New York Mets.
The nation’s capital has previously hosted the All-Star Game four times — in 1937, 1956, 1962 and 1969. That most recent one was at RFK Stadium, the first ballpark used by the Nationals when they left Montreal and arrived in Washington in 2005.
With Nationals Park, which cost more than $600 million and opened in 2008, getting its first All-Star Game, three existing stadiums have yet to be assigned one by MLB: the homes of the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies. The Atlanta Braves are scheduled to move into a new ballpark in two years.
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