TBNL: MLB's Speedway Classic failure, the Bronx is burning

Holding “special event” games at different venues has long been a staple of MLB’s broader marketing efforts. The response has been overwhelmingly positive for the majority of these events and venues, which has only made it easier for the league to continue the efforts.

For many years, the efforts focused mainly on growing the game globally. MLB has held games in Puerto Rico, Mexico City, Tokyo, Sydney, and London.

While the international efforts still take place, MLB has focused more recently on finding unique venues closer to home. North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. Iowa’s “Field of Dreams” site. Alabama’s historic Rickwood Field.

Since 2017, the league has held an annual game at the 3,000-seat Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, during the Little League World Series. The Mariners and Mets will play in this year’s game on August 17.

Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway — the track typically hosts two NASCAR Cup Series races a year — was selected for this year’s event and looks to be the exception to the trend. The game was slated to be played this past Saturday between the Reds and Braves. By all accounts, the problems began well before the game’s first pitch.

Simply getting to the Speedway was a challenge for most fans, with shuttle buses being held in not-moving traffic while the few open lots were reportedly asking as much as $350 to park. Once fans got inside, they were greeted with limitations on where they could walk within the concourse and ill-prepared concession stands that ran out of cheese for the nachos and buns for the hot dogs. Social media would suggest the whole event was a colossal failure from a fan-experience standpoint.

Much of the failure would appear to fall on the league for not planning properly. The Speedway normally permits fans to bring in food and drinks, something MLB did not allow for this game, so there is not a great need for an extensive concessions setup, according to insight shared by SI.com’s Jeff Carr. The infrastructure doesn’t exist to handle such a crowd. While some vendors and food trucks were brought in, MLB failed to anticipate the need and it resulted in lengthy lines (such as waiting more than 90 minutes for coffee).

That’s all without the rain. Saturday’s game was delayed multiple times before ultimately being suspended and completed on Sunday. Atlanta won, 4-2. Braves right fielder Eli White hit a pair of home runs and drove in all four runs. Hurston Waldrep earned the first win of his career.

Perhaps most notable from the league’s perspective, however, the game set a new attendance record: 91,032 tickets were sold for the game (there are no indications how many returned for the game’s completion on Sunday).

84,587 fans attended a game between the Yankees and Indians at Cleveland Stadium in September 1954 to establish the previous record.

Double-A dominance

Mets right-hander Jonah Tong has somewhat quietly dominated the minor leagues this season, while spending the year at Double-A Binghamton. Entering August, the 22-year-old prospect was leading all MiLB pitchers in strikeouts, strikeouts-per-nine, and batting average allowed while sitting second in ERA and third in WHIP.

Tong bettered those numbers further with his latest start on Tuesday, working five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. He’s the first player in the minor leagues (across all levels) to reach 150 strikeouts on the season.

The Bronx is burning

Many of the Yankees’ troubles can be tied back to June 12. The team was leading the AL East by 4.5 games at the time, but a six-game losing streak began the next day. New York is 19-29 since (a .395 winning percentage), after Tuesday’s loss in Texas, and now finds itself in third place, 6.5 games behind the Blue Jays.

The MLB-worst Rockies are 18-28 (.391) over that same stretch. Monday’s loss to Toronto was their 82nd of the season, guaranteeing a finish with a losing record.

Having added multiple bench bats already, Brian Cashman focused mainly on the bullpen at last week’s trade deadline — adding David Bednar, Camilo Doval, and Jake Bird. All three struggled in their initial appearances with the Yankees. Bird had already been on a cold streak before the trade (22 runs allowed over 21.0 IP with a 2.00 WHIP in June and July). After allowing seven runs over two innings since joining New York, he’s already been sent down to Triple-A.

Cashman’s big bullpen addition before the season, Devin Williams, has been super streaky and has already allowed as many earned runs this year (26; he has a 5.44 ERA over 43.0 IP) as he did from 2022-24 combined (26; when he posted a 1.66 ERA over 141.0 IP).

Aaron Judge did return from the IL on Tuesday (going 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts as the DH), but things have gotten bad in New York over the last six weeks.

Elsewhere, around the sport …

• Some big NPB news came out of Japan, as the Central League has voted to adopt the designated hitter beginning with the 2027 season. The decision was made and unanimously approved by the six CL clubs at a board meeting in Tokyo this week, according to Jason Coskrey at The Japan Times. The two NPB leagues will operate under the same rules for the first time since 1975. The CL had been one of the last places where pitchers still hit for themselves.

• 1B/CF Maika Niu was named the MVP of the Cape Cod League on Sunday, after hitting .280/.364/.508 with 8 HR, 23 RBI, and 15 SB over 35 games (152 PA) with the Falmouth Commodores. The 21-year-old played with Marshall last season, but has transferred to Arkansas for the 2026 season.