MLB’s Field of Dreams Game is finally set to be played two years after it was announced and 32 years since the classic baseball movie hit theaters. The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox will make history Thursday when they play a regular-season game in Dyersville, Iowa on the site where “Field of Dreams” was filmed for its 1989 theatrical release.

In August 2019, MLB first revealed its plan to play a game at a newly constructed, 8,000-seat ballpark right next to the field that was used in the movie. The idea for the contest was born at least three years earlier when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred visited the site as part of an MLB promotional tour in 2016.

"The national attention that this game is drawing is a promotion for our sport that you can't buy otherwise," Manfred told the Des Moines Register. "It's just going to be great in terms of baseball being in the front of everybody's minds and there's huge value in that. I also think it's important when we can tap into something like the emotional attachment that people have for this movie. It just reminds people how important baseball is to our culture and to them individually."

The road to Thursday’s game hasn’t exactly been smooth. The Yankees and White Sox were supposed to play in Dyersville on Aug. 13, 2020, but the St. Louis Cardinals replaced New York as Chicago’s scheduled opponent when MLB shifted to a 60-game season because of the pandemic. The game was canceled on Aug. 3, 2020, as a COVID-19 outbreak within the Cardinals’ clubhouse prevented the team from playing a single game for two straight weeks.

While the Yankees have a few of their best players on the COVID-19 injured list, Thursday’s game is expected to proceed. The White Sox are listed as the home team, playing 206 miles away from Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field.

The Yankees and White Sox will fly into Dubuque, Iowa, on Thursday and then take a 40-minute bus ride to Dyersville for the 7:15 p.m. ET start. Directly after the game, the two teams will fly to Chicago, where they’ll continue their three-game series Saturday. Friday is a built-in off day in case Thursday’s game is rained out.

It’s possible that weather could affect the contest. Thursday night’s forecast in Dyersville calls for a 50% chance of rain.

The game will be broadcast nationally on Fox. It will be the first MLB regular-season game ever held in the state of Iowa.

The crowd at the Field of Dreams Game is set to be nearly twice the size of Dyersville’s population. Last week, winners were announced from a lottery to buy tickets to Thursday’s game. Only Iowa residents were eligible to purchase a ticket through MLB.

Seats are being sold for record prices on the secondary ticket market. The average MLB stadium has a capacity five times that of the ballpark being used for Thursday’s Field of Dreams Game. Three days before the event, the average purchase price for a ticket was $1,413.63 at TickPick.com.

“Field of Dreams” actors Kevin Costner and Dwier Brown plan to be in attendance.

"I'm excited about running through the cornfields, because who wouldn't be?" White Sox closer Liam Hendriks said during a virtual press conference for the game. "I want to be able to walk on the set and sit in those wooden bleachers and do my own little Shoeless Joe thing and walk through the corn onto the actual field. And there's a 100% chance I want to get lost in the maze. I may or may not need to have a flare gun or something just in case I get lost and I need to start pitching."

Fans can walk through a path in the cornfields to get to their seats at the ballpark. The outfield walls will have windows, allowing fans to see the cornfields during the game.

The ballpark was designed with Comiskey Park in mind. The White Sox played their home games at Comiskey Park from 1910-1990.

The two clubs will wear throwback uniforms inspired by jerseys from the early 1900s. MLBShop is selling the throwback uniforms and caps for the Yankees and White Sox.

Field of Dreams
One of the "ghost players", a member of the semipro Dyersville White Hawks baseball team dressed in the uniform of the 1919 Chicago White Sox team stands on the site of center field created for the Hollywood motion picture 'Field of Dreams' on 25th August 1991 at the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, United States. Jonathan Daniel/Allsport/Getty Images
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