Meet Dyersville, Iowa, a small town with more than a baseball field
Dyersville, Iowa, is well known as the home of the “Field of Dreams” movie site, but the small town has more to offer to visitors.
Major League Baseball has been traveling the country over the years, playing games at unique venues including Fort Bragg Stadium in North Carolina, Rickwood Field in Alabama and Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
MLB will return to one of its most popular spots next year.
MLB officially announced Nov. 19 that the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins will play a regular-season game at the “Field of Dreams” movie site in Dyersville on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. MLB said in a statement that the game will be played on a “refurbished site in Dyersville” and will be streamed on Netflix.
“Major League Baseball is excited to return to Iowa in 2026 and to deliver a unique experience to the Twins, the Phillies, their players, our two Minor League teams, and fans across the game,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in the statement. We look forward to working with Netflix and creating an event that all sports fans can enjoy.”
The Des Moines Register reported in August about MLB’s return to the site in 2026 and its intentions to have the Phillies and Twins play there. A date for the game had not been revealed. Now it has. The game will be considered a Twins home date, with the Thursday game followed by a Friday off-day before the two teams resume their three-game series at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday.
Wednesday’s announcement included news that MLB Network’s production team will produce the event in partnership with Netflix.
MLB also announced that the Iowa Cubs and St. Paul Saints will play a Minor League Baseball game at the Field of Dreams on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. The Cubs are the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Saints are the top minor-league affiliate of the Twins. It’s the second MiLB game to take place at the site. The Quad Cities River Bandits and Cedar Rapids Kernels, both MiLB teams based in Iowa, played in Dyersville on Aug. 9, 2022.
“Iowa is thrilled to welcome MLB and its players back to the iconic Field of Dreams movie site and a new permanent stadium for one of America’s favorite pastimes,” Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said in the statement. “Set against a backdrop of rolling cornfields and a star-filled summer sky, this is an event unlike any other.”
Wednesday’s announcement is huge news for the state and for MLB, which garnered immense attention with its other games in Iowa. The previous two games took place in a specially constructed stadium built a short walk from the diamond featured in the 1989 movie starring Kevin Costner.
Costner played an Iowa farmer who plowed over his corn and built a baseball field for “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other members of the banned 1919 Chicago White Sox.
The movie became a huge hit and the field has been a popular tourist attraction ever since. MLB has capitalized on its success in recent years with a pair of games.
The first was a 2021 showdown between the White Sox and the New York Yankees. Before the game, Costner famously walked out of the corn and onto the field, followed by players from both teams.
The game ended with Tim Anderson of the White Sox belting a walk-off home run into the corn and setting off fireworks. That contest drew record ratings and brought MLB back to the Iowa farm the following year.
The second game, between the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds, wasn’t quite as memorable but still drew plenty of interest.
The site has been undergoing construction, including work on a more permanent structure for the MLB stadium and youth baseball and softball fields being built. Now it’ll have its biggest event returning in 2026 with the Phillies (one of the best teams in MLB) facing the Twins (a popular franchise in the Midwest).
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Major League Baseball back to the legendary Field of Dreams movie site,” Keith Rahe, executive director of Dyersville Events, Inc., which owns the Field of Dreams, said in a statement. “Hosting an event of such national prestige is an extraordinary honor for Dyersville Events, Inc. — a non-profit organization — and a celebration for our entire region and the great state of Iowa. We look forward to recreating the magic of the 2021 and 2022 games and once again witnessing teams emerge from our iconic cornfield for another unforgettable chapter at the Field of Dreams movie site.”
Tommy Birch, the Register’s sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He’s the 2018, 2020 and 2023 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468.