Nationals Park Will Host 2018 MLB All-Star Game

It's official! Nationals Park will host 2018's All-Star Game, Commissioner Rob Manfred and Nats owner Ted Learner announced Monday.

"As the stewards of the national pastime in the nation's capital, hosting this event has been a goal of ours from the beginning," Lerner said in a release.

Manfred said, "The best sporting event of the summer, which will be held one decade after the opening of Nationals Park, will add a new chapter to the long and distinguished baseball tradition in Washingotn, DC."

The news comes a day after a person familiar with Major League Baseball (MLB)'s plans told The Associated Press that the game would happen at Nats Park.

That person spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the site of the game ahead of the official announcement.

The Nationals had two All-Stars in 2014: Tyler Clippard and Jordan Zimmermann.

Washington will become the fourth consecutive National League team to host the 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, the MLB said leagues will continue to alternate who bats last, no matter what city hosts the game. So the American League will bat last in the 2016 game at San Diego and the 2018 game at Washington.

Manfred was expected to be at Nationals Park on Monday, as defending NL East champion Washington begins its season against the New York Mets.

The nation's capital has hosted the All-Star Game four times previously -- in 1937, 1956, 1962 and 1969. That most recent one was at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, the first ballpark used by the Nationals when they left Montreal and arrived in D.C. in 2005.

While Nationals Park, which opened in 2008, is 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.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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