Maybe even a layman could've told you hosting a Major League Baseball game in the infield of a NASCAR speedway was ridiculous. But, you can't help but credit both sides for even trying. We only wish it could've ended a little better, well, a-lot-a better is more fitting. It wasn't entirely the fault of the people involved; it's not like Rob Manfred has the power to change the weather. But it doesn't change that the inaugural MLB Speedway Classic was a dud.
Of course, the Speedway Classic didn't exist in a vacuum. It's a part of a larger effort by Major League Baseball to expand the game far beyond national borders via neutral-site stadiums across the globe. In places like Japan, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, and even China, MLB has put great expense into promoting abroad in the last quarter century. Even at home, in places that never see Major League action like Omaha, the Fort Bragg Army Base in North Carolina, the Little League World Series complex in Pennsylvania, and the site of the filming of Field of Dreams in Iowa.
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