Pirates to play game in Williamsport this summer

The Pirates and Cardinals will play their August 20 game in Williamsport, Dejan Kovacevic reports. That’s subscription only, but you can read about the details via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The game had originally been scheduled to be played at PNC Park. It will be part of Little League World Series celebrations in Williamsport, and it will be broadcast on ESPN. The game obviously won’t be played at Little League facilities, though it’s seemingly unclear whether MLB will use the minor league ballpark in Williamsport (the short-season Williamsport Crosscutters are on the road that day) or build something new.

In any case, this is fun, even though the Pirates will lose a home game. The Little League World Series is a great tradition, and the Pirates have history in Williamsport — the Crosscutters were once their affiliate. There are, of course, also plenty of Pirates fans in the area. Williamsport is about three and a half hours from Pittsburgh.