Major League Baseball intends to announce next week the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will play two games at London's Olympic Stadium on June 29-30 next year Authentic Scott Kazmir Jersey , a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because no public comments had been authorized.

"I'm excited about going over there," Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said.

Boston will be the home team for both of MLB's first regular-season games in Europe.

"One of the biggest rivalries in all of sports," Red Sox pitcher Joe Kelly said. "We'll see how the players recover. And that's always going to be big to take into account travel-wise."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan scheduled a news conference for Tuesday with baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred but did not announce the subject matter.

"I've never been to London, so I'm looking forward to that," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Can grow our game, obviously, in Europe and hopefully getting two big teams out there will be a great thing for the sport."

Baseball officials have long hoped for games in London and settled last year on Olympic Stadium, which is in its second season as home of soccer's West Ham of the Premier League. Because it originally was built for a 400-meter track, Olympic Stadium is wider than other large stadiums in the London area and can best accommodate the dimensions of a baseball field.

Each player on the trip will get an extra $60,000 for participating in the games, according to baseball's collective bargaining agreement.

The NFL has played regular-season games annually in London since 2007, holding 18 games at Wembley and three at Twickenham. Three more NFL games are scheduled for this year, including one at Tottenham's new stadium.

The NBA has played eight regular-season games at London's O2 Arena since 2011. The NHL opened its 2007-08 season at the O2 Arena with two games between the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks.

MLB has put renewed emphasis on international games since Manfred became commissioner in 2015.

Cleveland and Minnesota played a two-game series last month in San Juan, Puerto Rico Jeremiah Attaochu Color Rush Jersey , and the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego meet in a three-game series at Monterrey, Mexico, that starts Friday. MLB announced Tuesday that Oakland and Seattle will open next season at the Tokyo Dome on March 20-21.

Baseball started its season at Monterrey in 1999 (Colorado vs. San Diego); at Tokyo in 2000 (Chicago Cubs-New York Mets), 2004 (Tampa Bay-Yankees), 2008 (Boston-Oakland) and 2012 (Seattle-Oakland); and at Sydney in 2014 (Los Angeles Dodgers-Arizona).

Additional regular-season games were played at Monterrey in 1996 (San Diego-Mets); and at San Juan in 2001 (Toronto-Texas), 2003-04 (a total of 43 Montreal home games) and 2010 (Mets-Florida Marlins).

Current Red Sox manager Alex Cora was part of Boston's team that went to Tokyo in 2008 as part of a trip that included seven regular-season games, two exhibitions against Japanese clubs plus a pair of exhibitions at the Dodgers that included one at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum attended by a record crowd of 115,300.

"It was a long one," Cora recalled. "We went to Japan, then LA for two days, then we went to Oakland and then we went to Toronto, and we survived April."

AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins and Kristie Rieken, and Associated Press writer Joshua Koch contributed to this report.

Carmelo Anthony has been the No. 1 option for whatever team he has played on during most of his basketball career.

He knew that wasn’t going to be the case when he arrived in Oklahoma City, though it’s safe to say things haven’t gone as he expected when he signed up to be part the league’s next Big Three.

Playing alongside Russell Westbrook and Paul George Youth Breeland Speaks Jersey , Anthony and the Thunder are headed to the playoffs . He is the Thunder’s third-leading scorer, yet at times it feels like he the fourth option behind center Steven Adams.

Anthony isn’t complaining.

”Acceptance of what I have to do here and what is needed of me,” Anthony said. ”I think the other guys on the team, after they started playing with each other more and more, we started figuring out each other’s game. We figured out what each other brings to the game.”

He has said he wants to win, and he is not just talking the talk.

Late in a critical game against the Denver Nuggets a few weeks ago , Anthony chose not to re-enter in the closing minutes of regulation. Instead, he walked away from the scorer’s table and let 24-year-old Jerami Grant stay in the game.

”I didn’t want to break his rhythm,” Anthony said. ”A lot of guys when they have it going like that, especially role player guys, bench guys, that gives them confidence. You believe in those guys.”

Anthony returned to action when the game went to overtime and his actions left little doubt where he is mentally. A likely future Hall of Famer, Anthony is one of the top 20 scorers in NBA history, a three-time Olympic gold medalist and former NBA scoring champion in 2013.

Not long ago Authentic Travis Wood Jersey , the thought of Anthony being out of a game at crunch time would have been dismissed as senseless. Now, he’s 33 years old, no longer in his prime. He averages 16.2 points per game, by far the lowest of his career, and his minutes also are at a career low.

He’s fine with it all because his goal is his first NBA title.

Anthony’s teammates respect how he has adjusted.

”He’s just an overall good guy,” Westbrook said. ”Does a lot of different things that goes unnoticed. His ultimate sacrifice is number one, and his being a team guy is always important as well.”

Anthony has been an isolation specialist for most of his career, having the ball in his hand and his team clearing out so he can go one-on-one. This season, he has been at his best when taking advantage of the attention Westbrook and George have drawn.

”Those guys are finding me in transition, they’re finding me in when guys collapse on the defensive end and we’re just sharing the ball,” he said. ”I think when we share the ball and we move the ball, everybody feels a part of the game. The rhythm comes, the flow of the game comes because the rhythm is a lot different than what we (the Thunder) had in the past, so we’ve got to find ways Roquan Smith Jersey Bears , find that rhythm.”

Anthony has had struggled at times finding his rhythm – he’s barely shooting 40 percent from the field. Still, he has shown glimpses of being the prolific scorer he once was. In Sunday’s win over the Houston Rockets, he scored 22 points on 7 for 14 shooting. He scored a season-high 29 points in a win over Cleveland on Jan. 20.

And there are times where his track record still matters.

In a loss to Portland on March 25 , Anthony missed what would have been a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds after Westbrook fouled out. Coach Billy Donovan was fine with Anthony having the ball in his hands.

”Carmelo is a proven scorer in this league and has made shots, big shots for a large portion of his career, and I’ve got confidence in him,” Donovan said.

The coach also believes Anthony is a team player.

Donovan said he was fine with when Anthony chose not to re-enter the game against Denver ”because to me, that’s a sign of unselfishness – wanting someone else to do well.”

Grant is averaging 9.4 points per game since the All-Star break in just under 20 minutes of action per game. Anthony is teaching him to be more assertive.

”Since I’ve been here, he’s been with our group – me, him and Paul – the shooting groups,” Anthony said. ”Just talking to him and encouraging him to take a little bit more.”

Anthony believes mentoring is as important as anything he does at this point in his career.

”I’ve been around for a long time,” Anthony said, ”and I want to give that insight and that knowledge to the young guys.”

And capture his first NBA title along the way.

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