Tournament organiser UMG Gaming has partnered with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) through its subsidiary UMG JMG to create an esports series for active and retired Major League Baseball players.

Kicking off on October 1st, the series will run through to the Live Championship Finals in Las Vegas in December. UMG has brought on Caesars Entertainment and The Wall Gaming Lounge as partners to host the final stage of the competition.

Some of the competitors that will take part in the particular tournament include Lance McCullers Jr., Trevor May, and Trea Turner.

We are thrilled the announce UMG-JMG has partnered with the @MLB_PLAYERS to launch an esports series for both active and retired MLB players. The MLBPA Fortnite Challenge has arrived featuring players like @LMcCullers43, @IamTrevorMay, @treavturner & more: pic.twitter.com/Ekt6M0SVRq — UMG Events (@UMGEvents) September 27, 2018

Evan Kaplan, Director of Licensing and Business Development for MLBPA said: “We’ve all watched Major League players compete against each other on the field, now we’ll have the opportunity to test their video game skills against each other, as well. We’re excited to team with UMG JMG Series Corp for this new series.”

The Final in Las Vegas will see 16 teams of MLB players, past and present, come together to compete for the MLBPA Challenge Series title and cash prizes. It will be hosted out of the The Wall Gaming Lounge.

Emil Bodenstein of UMG JMG also discussed the new tournament: “Being part of the first esports initiative of the MLBPA is very exciting, and initial response of the players has been tremendous, I can’t wait to see them compete. Partnering with the MLBPA and Caesars for such a unique series is great for both the players and their fans.”

UMG is no stranger to hosting tournaments for Fortnite, it was one of the driving forces behind Friday Fortnite – the popular competition series spearheaded by internet personality Daniel “Keemstar” Keem. Epic Games put a halt to the weekly series, however, once it launched its esports efforts starting with the Summer Skirmish.

Esports Insider says: It’s interesting to see UMG continue hosting competitions for Fortnite considering what happened with its series with Keemstar, but this is a very different venture. Partnering with the MLBPA to bring those in traditional sports over into esports is an interesting move, we’re keen to see the level of popularity the live final in Vegas reaches.

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