Buckle up. Major League Baseball is coming to “Thunder Valley.”
Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Friday morning that MLB will play a regular-season game in 2025 at the historic Bristol Motor Speedway in northeastern Tennessee. The Braves will face the Reds on Saturday, Aug. 2, in the MLB Speedway Classic. Manfred made the announcement at the speedway in a ceremony that included Tennessee Governor Bill Lee.
“Major League Baseball is excited to deliver a special game at Bristol Motor Speedway, a unique setting that sports fans will remember forever,” said Manfred. “The Reds and the Braves form an ideal matchup because of their dynamic talent and the proximity of their markets. We look forward to celebrating our game with a wide array of fans, both on and off the field throughout the weekend, and highlighting the rich traditions of sports, music and community in Tennessee and across the region.”
It will be the first regular-season game in National League/American League history played in Tennessee, and continues a recent push by MLB to play games in unconventional, memorable settings. Other examples in recent years include MLB at Fort Bragg in 2016, MLB in Omaha in 2019, MLB at Field of Dreams in 2021, MLB at Rickwood Field earlier this year, and the annual Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pa. Those games were, respectively, the first regular-season AL/NL games in North Carolina, Nebraska, Iowa and Alabama.
