The Nats currently lead the best-of-seven series and could seal the championship in front of the president

Donald Trump will attend Game 5 of the World Series, it was confirmed on Saturday, although the ceremonial first pitch will be thrown by a fierce critic.

Trump will have a short journey to the game from the White House: the Washington Nationals are hosts to the Houston Astros.

Trump critic to throw out first pitch at World Series game Trump to attend Read more

The Nats lead the best-of-seven series 2-1 and could seal the championship in front of the president if they win both games this weekend.

Trump told the Major League Baseball commissioner, Rob Manfred, he would arrive late for the game and would not throw out the first pitch.

“We actually had a conversation with him about first pitches,” Manfred said. “His view was that in order to make the fan experience as positive as possible, he would arrive at Game 5 sometime after the game began so it wouldn’t interfere with fans getting into the stadium.

“Quite frankly, we were very grateful for that. We thought it was a great decision on the president’s part.”

You know I was recruited, and they all wanted me to go in Major League Donald Trump

Trump, a first baseman, was a good baseball player in high school. In a 2014 interview at the Economic Club of Washington DC, he claimed: “You know I was recruited, and they all wanted me to go in Major League.”

His suitors were reportedly the Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox but Trump said five years ago the money was not enough to tempt him.

On Friday, he joked that a bulletproof vest would make it hard for him to throw the pitch.

“I don’t know. They gotta dress me up in a lot of heavy armour. I’ll look too heavy. I don’t like that,” he said.

George W Bush famously wore a bulletproof vest under his jacket when he threw the first pitch during the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York, a month after the 9/11 attacks.

The crowd at Nationals Park may well boo Trump: Washington DC is heavily Democratic although many of the tickets will have been sold to corporate sponsors rather than diehard home fans.

“It’ll be loud for Trump but every president gets booed: both Bushes, Reagan, Nixon. When Americans pay for their ticket, most of them buy into the great American tradition to boo whomever they want,” said Curt Smith, a former Bush speechwriter and author of The Presidents and the Pastime, a book about baseball and US politics.

Sunday’s first pitch will be thrown by Washington DC chef José Andrés, a vocal critic of Trump.

Andrés has repeatedly opposed Trump’s immigration policies and his government’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.