Cubs News: 2027 All-Star Game backup plan, update on the 2026 Field of Dreams Game

We now know that, regardless of how bloody and brutal the battle between the MLB and the MLBPA is over the next CBA, we will have an All-Star Game at Wrigley Field this decade.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, Major League Baseball has 'guaranteed' the Chicago Cubs the Midsummer Classic in 2029 if a labor stoppage cuts into the 2027 season and scraps the All-Star Game in the process. That's hardly a surprise given the amount of work the organization and league have put into this, especially on the Cubs' side, as they've spent the better part of a decade working through security concerns posed by Wrigley's unique location in the middle of a neighborhood.

Still, it's the first official report outlining a real contingency plan. When the initial announcement was made, commissioner Rob Manfred played coy about any such discussions, so now we at least know the two possible scenarios: 2027 or 2029.

Whichever year it ends up taking place, it will mark the fourth time the Friendly Confines have hosted the All-Star Game - and the first since 1990.

Phillies, Twins to play in 2026 Field of Dreams Game

Major League Baseball will return to Dyersville, Iowa next August. No, the Cubs won't be part of the festivities as they were three years ago, but it's still exciting to see the event return nonetheless.

The 2026 Field of Dreams Game will feature the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies, marking the first big-league game at the famed location since the Cubs and Reds played in Aug. 2022. The construction of a major youth baseball and softball complex has kept the league from having the event in recent years, and given MLB's disastrous attempt to recreate the magic from the iconic movie site at the Speedway Classic debacle earlier this month, it seems safe to say everyone involved will be happy to return to Iowa next summer.

This will mark the third iteration of the Field of Dreams Game. The inaugural one, which took place in 2021 between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox heralded unprecedented fanfare and was probably the best-executed activation MLB has ever pulled off, complete with Kevin Costner coming out of the field and a walk-off ending Hollywood couldn't have written any better.