All the ways the Speedway Classic turned into MLB's Fyre Fest

An ideal world would've had the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds facing off in a truly never-before-seen spectacle on Saturday evening for the MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway. In the vein of unforgettable ventures in baseball like the Field of Dreams Game or the Rickwood Field showcase, the Speedway Classic could've been the next entrant into that category. Instead, the logistics, the weather and the situation as a whole went from hopeful to a Fyre Fest-level disaster for Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball.

Of course, the game was called after a three-hour rain delay and the only the top of the first inning being played. It's set to resume on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET but the damage image-wise might already be done. The reviews from fans, those who traveled far and wide with those in the area alike, are in and they are anything but unkind.

What made the MLB Speedway Classic so disastrous, though? Unfortunately, we have a long list of things that contributed to MLB's Fyre Fest Speedway Classic.

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MLB Speedway Classic was more disastrous than anyone could've imagined

Let's take a tally of how bad things were for Braves, Reds and baseball fans in Bristol or trying to watch the action at home. Spoiler: There's just about nothing that actually went right.

Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. not playing, for different reasons

The calf injury for Braves superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. meant that the Speedway Classic was already going to be missing one of the biggest possible participants and the most star-power in the Braves-Reds matchup. However, the star power took another hit with the rain starting on Saturday evening in Bristol and delaying the game. That forced Atlanta manager Brian Snitker's hand to scratch Spencer Strider from his scheduled start.

So before things ever got started, fans weren't able to see a much-anticipated showdown between two flamethrowers in Strider facing Reds young standout Chase Burns.

Good luck to some fans even watching the game

If you're paying good money for a special event like the Speedway Classic, one can only assume that you would like to watch the baseball game actually get played, regardless of the weather. Apparently, some of the seats sold in Bristol didn't actually take that into account as fans ended up with views that, frankly, calling "obstructed" doesn't quite feel like it's doing it justice.

Unless there's a ball hit to right field, these fans are just completely out of luck in terms of what they're going to be seeing. And while this might be the most egregious example, there were other viewing issues throughout the venue.

No food, no beer, no merchandise before we even got to a rain-delayed first pitch

Obviously, the fans showed up for the Braves-Reds game to start on time and Mother Nature had other plans. However, every baseball park should be prepared for that, whether it's being played at a standard park or at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Speedway Classic, however, was not remotely prepared, though. While fans were enjoying the usual goods during the rain delay by grabbing food, beer and merchandise, vendors were already running out of these things before we even got to the first pitch.

Perhaps the worst part of this was that the concessions areas were still charging full price for some truly sad items. Who in their right mind would want a full-priced hot dog without a bun or full-priced nachos that are actually just crappy tortilla rounds because they ran out of cheese?

I would rather eat my own hat — assuming that I was able to buy a hat when they were largely running out of merchandise in Bristol as well.

Rain delay and the suspended game

One thing that shouldn't be lost in this, even if it wasn't MLB's fault, is the simple fact that the game wasn't played. Baseball quite literally devised a schedule to where the Speedway Classic would have its own slot in the schedule, at 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday with all the other games being played early or later. Instead, they got none of that.

The rain delay itself was bad and probably should've just led to a postponement to Sunday to begin with at a certain point. But where MLB is culpable is trying to shoehorn the game in when that was never realistic. The fact that the two teams managed to only play one half-inning before the game was called and suspended to resume on Sunday afternoon is fully indicative of that. Rob Manfred and whoever else were trying to not make this a complete failure, but made it even more of one with such a shortsighted decision.