BRISTOL, TN − Whatever the Speedway Classic was intended to mean for MLB, what it ended up being for the Cincinnati Reds was added hardship in the middle of a playoff race.
The Speedway Classic had a baseline of deviating from a normal Reds home game, given it was to be played more than 300 miles from Great American Ball Park at the temporary field on the infield of Bristol Motor Speedway. In other words, Cincinnati lost a true home game in the name of supporting an MLB spectacle. And some Reds were onboard – even excited – about participating.
But when the Aug. 2 showcase was forced into two rain delays and finally suspended and pushed to Aug. 3, things got complicated for Cincinnati in meaningful ways.
The Reds lost the services of its originally scheduled starter, Chase Burns, who pitched a scoreless first inning on Aug. 2.
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Additionally, an originally-scheduled off day in Chicago on Aug. 3 was to be a game day for the Reds, plus a travel day and a bullpen game ahead of a critical week of seven divisional road games against the Chicago Cubs (Aug. 4-6) and Pittsburgh Pirates (Aug. 7-11).
The Reds (58-53) entered play Aug. 3 three games behind the San Diego Padres, who sat in the third and final wild-card spot.
“Losing the innings of Burns last night really kind of is a dilemma to us,” Reds manager Terry Francona said. “I was trying to explain, and nobody can control the weather, but you go from trying to win the game to all of a sudden, ‘how do we finish the game?’ That’s a difficult spot to be in and I think they understood that.”
The game was suspended with one out in the bottom of the second and the Reds leading, 1-0, with a chance for more runs. Burns set the Braves down in order in the top of the inning, striking out two.
Brent Suter will take the mound for Cincinnati when the Braves come to bat in the top of the second inning. Lyon Richardson on Aug. 3 was called up to help shoulder some of the bullpen burden.
Suffice it to say this isn’t what the Reds wanted or needed to get out of the Speedway Classic, and Cincinnati’s degree of difficulty during what’s left of the game and coming out of it increased.
“I don’t think anybody was terribly thrilled (Aug. 2),” Francona said. “It’s a huge event. I mean, they’re thinking about things. We’re thinking about things. Everybody’s got their own area that you worry about. Hopefully you try to be respectful that there are other areas but ultimately what we’re here for is to try to win a game and I just wanted to make sure nobody lost sight of that.
“Maybe Suter goes out and gives us four. We lost that day off, though, for our bullpen. That’s the big, big one, and now we have basically a bullpen day. That’s difficult. We’ll have to see how we get through it.”
Furthermore, to add pitching the Reds had to option outfielder Will Benson, who had been playing well all week, to Triple-A Louisville so they could add a pitcher in Lyon Richardson.
Benson must stay at Louisville for 10 days, barring a roster spot opening because of someone being placed on the injured list.
A victory would make the Bristol experience easier to digest, but events had already unfolded in a way that would likely see the Reds taxed more than they anticipated ahead of the resumption of play Aug. 3.
None of this is to suggest Cincinnati can’t overcome the challenges associated with the Speedway Classic in the days to come. These are challenges other playoff contenders don’t have to deal with, though.
The Speedway Classic offered value to MLB, and the Reds bought in. Cincinnati’s clubhouse was supportive of participating in an event that shone a light on baseball in Tennessee. The game certainly reignited conversation about Nashville as a possible MLB expansion market.
Even with some rain in the forecast ahead of the originally-scheduled start time on Aug. 2, Reds players were optimistic and open-minded about the Speedway Classic experience.
Multiple Reds pitchers, including Nick Lodolo and Nick Martinez, indicated losing a true home game in the middle of a playoff race would be worth it for the chance to play in front of an MLB-record crowd.
“I think for the experience, we’d swap it,” Lodolo said. “It’s a lot of work, believe me, but I think tonight when you’ve got 85,000 people and everything, I think it’ll be pretty cool.”
Veteran and closer Emilio Pagán was eager to participated in the first-of-its-kind MLB game, too, saying: “This is such a unique event and experience, we’re all super pumped about it.”
Those views were conveyed around 3:30 p.m. on Aug. 2. The Speedway Classic was still on schedule at that point.
About eight hours later, the circumstances of the game had changed dramatically.
