If you hadn’t heard, Major League Baseball decided to get fun for once. This Thursday, the White Sox and Yankees played a thriller in Dyersville, IA, right next to the set of baseball classic Field of Dreams. Players emerged from cornstalks before the introductions, then proceeded to hit bombs into the maize. The league was rewarded for their good deeds with arguably the best game of the year. The Yankees came back from down three in the ninth before Tim Anderson of the Sox walked it off facing Zack Britton in the bottom half. This could be a long article about the game itself, but instead, we look to the future. What other movie adaptations could baseball (or sports in general) do?
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You can check out all the past Shenanigans here.
The Obvious
The most popular movie that fans would want to see made into a real game next would very clearly be The Sandlot. It would be the perfect excuse for a Dodgers/Yankees primetime matchup on a dinky field. Could the league really pull off a Sandlot game? There isn’t exactly a defining characteristic about the field in the movie that could be of practical use for a real game.
Maybe they could adapt from the best baseball movie of all time, Moneyball. Oh, wait… that’s just every Oakland Athletics home game. Never mind. The same could be said for Major League, the original. The sequel? We’ll get to that later.
If you want to keep the Kevin Costner train going, even Bull Durham is just a Durham Bulls game. Wow, how shocking! Yeah, it is a minor league game, but just put the Orioles against the Tigers and you would have the same dynamic so long as Cedric Mullins can’t play.
Other Sports
In football, Friday Night Lights would be the easiest of them all to pull off. It’s a surprise that it has been more than 24 hours since the Field of Dreams game and the NFL is yet to announce a Friday Night Lights game. Play at a Texas high school field and put the game on Friday. It’s that simple.
How about Invincible, with a random guy playing for the Eagles? Speaking of which, in baseball they could allow a 12-year-old to pitch a game for the Cubs (a la Rookie of the Year). It would be mutually beneficial, as it would help Chicago’s tanking effort.
Another Costner movie is Draft Day. This is where we let the consensus top pick fall to sixth overall for… reasons. Vontae Mack no matter what. The existence of Ross Johnston, Ryan Reaves, and Michael Haley, plus about half of the players from the 80s proves that Goon has already been done in hockey. Miracle is just the Olympics, and honoring it may be an issue with so many Russians in the league.
We’re going to ignore Space Jam since it was just done by LeBron James this year. The best basketball choice is Semi-Pro. Let’s go Tropics!
The Best Choice
After much deliberation, the best option is clearly found in baseball and it is Major League 2. With Jacobs Field (now Progressive) under construction during the time of filming, the movie is oddly set at Baltimore’s Camden Yards. Thus, a game at Camden next year between Cleveland and the White Sox. The only problem will be the presence of the Guardians, Cleveland baseball’s new moniker-in-waiting. Major League 2 may have a good deal of questionable humor but this is the dumbest possible follow-up to the success we saw this week. Make it happen (as another Costner sports movie is titled) for the love of the game.
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