Major League Baseball hosted its first Field of Dreams Game on Thursday night, with the Chicago White Sox defeating the New York Yankees in walk-off fashion at the movie site in Dyersville, Iowa. It may have been the first game of its kind, but it does not appear that it will be the last Field of Dreams Game.
As part of his postgame press conference, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed that the league intends to return to Iowa and host a game at the Dyersville site come the 2022 season. Manfred's announcement was supported by actor Kevin Costner.
"You never mess with a winning streak," Costner said, according to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times, "It does feel like all the teams will want to touch this."
It's unclear what teams will be partaking in next year's Field of Dreams Game, though Gordon Wittenmyer tweeted on Wednesday that Chicago Cubs manager David Ross seemingly tipped that his team will be part of next year's game before attempting to walk back his statement. Tommy Birch of the Iowa City Press-Citizen confirmed with a source that the Cubs appear to be a serious contender for a future game. Here's part of what Birch reported:
However, a baseball source with direct knowledge told The Register on Wednesday evening that there's momentum behind the idea of the Cubs playing near the "Field of Dreams" site in rural northeast Iowa that the MLB constructed. The source said the Cubs would be one of the teams featured if the MLB returns for a future game in Dyersville.
The Field of Dreams Game was, of course, postponed from the 2020 season because of the global pandemic. The stadium reportedly cost nearly $6 million to build, unassemble, and reassemble.
