DYERSVILLE, Iowa — MLB managed to fight off plenty of rain and the potential of diminishing returns, and pulled off a third iteration of its Field of Dreams game on Thursday.
The Phillies beat the Twins, 7-1, before a lively crowd of 7,163 at the filming site of the 1989 Field of Dreams movie. That outcome, fueled in part by two Kyle Schwarber homers, gave Philadelphia a boost in the postseason chase as the special-event game carried heightened October implications compared to the last Field of Dreams game in 2022, which involved Reds and Cubs teams well out of contention.
More importantly for MLB, though, the league was simply able to stage the event after eastern Iowa was deluged with rain for much of the week and particularly Thursday morning. Despite that, the league and site owner Dyersville Events Inc. were able to take advantage of improved infrastructure and keep the field at major-league specifications.
The improved forecast also allowed the league to avoid a repeat of the MLB Speedway Classic, last year’s special-event game at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee, which was postponed overnight due to rain.
“This field drained and held up exceptionally well,” MLB field consultant Murray Cook told Front Office Sports shortly before the Field of Dreams game. “We were probably more concerned the other day when there were wind gusts of 90 miles per hour locally and tornado warnings. But we persevered, we’re ready, and the corn is ready.”
