Sydney to host Major League Baseball season opener
Dodgers and Diamondbacks are signed up to play two games at historic SCG Down Under
Australia will host Major League Baseball's 2014 season opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks next March, organisers say.
The matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) will take place in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Chicago White Sox playing the New York Giants on a world tour just before the first world war.
"These are not exhibition matches," New South Wales (NSW) state premier Barry O'Farrell said. "These are two serious matches in the most impressive sports outfit in the biggest franchise in the world. It's a great opportunity for Sydney."
The games will be broadcast on ESPN and state tourism officials have forecast a global audience of 168 million viewers.
Previous major league games have been played outside the United States, with the most recent being when the Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners split their opening series in Japan last year.
The Dodgers and Diamondbacks will play games on March 22 and 23 at the SCG, which contains some of Australia's deepest sporting history from cricket to rugby and hosted a baseball game as long ago as 1878.