For the primary time ever, a recreation that includes American or Nationwide League groups might be performed in Tennessee. The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will proceed the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic on Sunday afternoon after the sport was suspended on account of rain Saturday evening. The sport is being performed at Bristol Motor Speedway, one in every of NASCAR’s most iconic tracks.
“I suppose will probably be fairly candy. Rising up watching NASCAR races, and with the ability to play within the middle of it’s fairly cool,” Braves righty Grant Holmes told MLB.com. “… There’s going to be lots of people there. It will be fairly loud. These NASCAR followers get fairly rowdy.”
First pitch was delayed two hours and 17 minutes by rain Saturday. The rain rapidly returned as soon as the sport obtained underway, so MLB suspended it with one out within the backside of the primary inning. The Reds could have a 1-0 lead with runners on first and second when the sport resumes Sunday (GameTracker).
The Speedway Traditional is being performed on the infield at Bristol Motor Speedway. A number of modifications needed to be made to accommodate a baseball diamond. Pit partitions, gasoline pumps, and even a part of a constructing needed to be taken down. This is how one can watch Sunday’s continuation of the suspended recreation:
2025 MLB Speedway Traditional
Date: Sunday, August 3 | Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee)
Reside stream: Fubo (Begin watching, save $20!) | TV channel: FOX
Groups: Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds
Odds: Braves (-172), Reds (+142), O/U 9 at FanDuel
Sunday’s recreation would be the closing recreation of a three-game collection for the Braves and Reds. The primary two video games had been performed on Thursday and Friday at Nice American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The Reds are the house group for the Speedway Traditional. Right here now’s what you should find out about Saturday’s historic recreation in Tennessee.
The sector of play
The baseball subject is ready on the Bristol Motor Speedway infield between Turns 3 and 4 of the race observe. The size of the sphere are nearly symmetrical. It’s 330 toes down the fitting and left subject strains, and 400 toes to middle. It’s a little deeper to the left-center subject hole (384 toes) than it’s to right-center (375 toes). The bullpens are tucked away within the outfield corners.
The sector itself is Diamond Sequence AstroTurf, the identical floor used at Rogers Centre, dwelling of the Toronto Blue Jays. Following the sport, the enjoying floor might be donated to East Tennessee State College in close by Johnson Metropolis, Tennessee.
An attendance document might be damaged
Bristol Motor Speedway seats 146,000 for NASCAR occasions. For the Speedway Traditional, roughly two-thirds of the power’s seats might be used, and short-term seating has been put in behind the plate and alongside the primary and third baselines. Over 85,000 tickets have been bought, which is a brand new document for an MLB recreation. The earlier document was 84,587 tickets for a recreation between Cleveland and the New York Yankees at Cleveland Stadium on Sept. 14, 1954.
In contrast to the intimate settings of the Discipline of Goals Recreation in Iowa or final 12 months’s Rickwood Discipline recreation in Birmingham, Alabama, Saturday’s Speedway Traditional might be a spectacle of grandeur. The sector is surrounded by the race observe and the sheer measurement of the power will make for an environment by no means earlier than seen for an MLB recreation.
The groups will put on particular uniforms
As a nod to motorsports, the Braves and Reds will put on particular caps and uniforms with race automotive type numbers Saturday, amongst different neat options. Test it out:
The disappointing Braves are 46-63 and 14 ½ video games behind the third wild card spot. The Reds are 58-53 and three ½ video games out of a postseason berth. Sunday might be a singular expertise, however an essential recreation for the Reds nonetheless.