Mate, they turned this football pitch into a baseball pitch

London Stadium has been transformed ahead of the MLB’s London Series

London Stadium, normally home to West Ham, has been transformed into a stadium for a different sport with a slightly harder, smaller ball.

The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are in England ahead of the 2023 MLB London Series, which will see the rivals face off in a two-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

It will be only the second time MLB has played games in England, with the inaugural London Series taking place in 2019 when the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees faced off at London Stadium.

The Cubs and Cardinals were set to return in 2020, before the pandemic would eventually delay the series by three years.

The transformation of the stadium into a baseball facility began all the way back on June 7, with more than 400 people working around the clock to build dugouts, change the locker rooms, alter stadium seating and lay over 144,000 square feet of artificial turf.

A time-lapse video from MLB shows the amazing metamorphosis.

Retired West Ham greats James Collins and Carlton Cole could scarcely believe their eyes when they saw what their former home stadium looked like.

Collins said he knew a little bit about baseball but he echoed a common complaint about the sport.

“I’ve been to a game a few years ago, I went to a New York Mets game. I’ll watch any sport that’s on the tele, so I sort of get it and enjoy it to be fair. It’s so long though,” he told Sky Sports.

“If I was coming to watch sports I don’t mind a beer, but it’s a bit too long to get on the beers.”

There’s a pitch clock now, James! Drink up.

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