Major League Baseball announced Thursday that co-ed softball teams from each of the five branches of the U.S. military will compete in the inaugural All-Star Armed Services Classic presented by T-Mobile. The tournament is set to take place from June 2-3 in Washington.
The Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard will compete for the opportunity to play during MLB All-Star week on July 13 at Nationals Park.
• Complete 2018 MLB All-Star Game information
The teams are comprised of 16 active duty members from each representative branch, initially competing in preliminary and semifinal rounds in round-robin style at Randall Park in Washington.
The schedule of games is as follows:
Saturday, June 2
10 a.m. ET -- Army vs. Navy
11:30 a.m. ET -- Coast Guard vs. Marine Corps
1 p.m. ET -- Army vs. Air Force
2:30 p.m. ET -- Navy vs. Marine Corps
4 p.m. ET -- Coast Guard vs. Air Force
Sunday, June 3
10 a.m. ET -- Army vs. Marine Corps
11:30 a.m. ET -- Navy vs. Coast Guard
1 p.m. ET -- Marine Corps vs. Air Force
2:30 p.m. ET -- Army vs. Coast Guard
4 p.m. ET -- Navy vs. Air Force
The championship game on July 13 will be open to the public and is a free-ticketed event for service members and loved ones, with tickets distributed among the five military branches, as well as military service organizations. MLB and the Nationals will also invite special government and military dignitaries to attend the finale. It will be the first major ballpark event of All-Star Week, and it will be streamed live on MLB.com.
A special home run contest will follow the championship game, where one pre-selected member of each military branch will compete for a chance to hit a homer alongside Major Leaguers during the T-Mobile Home Run Derby on Monday, July 16, at Nationals Park.
All tournament rules have been determined and will be enforced by USA Softball, the governing body of softball in the United States. Field dimensions for the preliminary and semifinal rounds differ from the final to maintain integrity with the other Midsummer Classic events, such as the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and Legends & Celebrity Softball Game on Sunday, July 15.
The All-Star Armed Services Classic presented by T-Mobile will be one of several events that MLB and the Nationals will team up to honor the greater military community in Washington, D.C.