������Ƶ

• The level of commitment club ownership has to winning.
• Team president of baseball operations John Mozeliak’s personnel moves (under the budget he has from ownership).
• Manager Oliver Marmol’s handling of the roster crafted for him from above.
• The shifting of some games from local telecaster/streamer FanDuel ������Ƶ Network to a national streaming operator that has exclusive coverage.

While there is no sign of any ownership change on the horizon, and who knows if Marmol will be back next season for the final year of his contract, there are definitive developments with two of the aforementioned topics of prime discussion. Mozelik is stepping away at season’s end, and the Cardinals are done for this year with having games shown solely by a national streamer.

The Mozeliak move has been in the works since September, when it was announced that Chaim Bloom would replace him at this season’s conclusion. But the streaming information is newer, as Apple TV+ recently released its schedule for the rest of the way, and the Cardinals are not in the lineup of contests it exclusively streams on Fridays.

That thus means they will finish with six exclusively streamed games, an aspect of Major League Baseball’s media deals that agitates many fans who either are irked that they already are paying for a local package but have to spend even more if they want to watch these games or simply aren’t tech-savvy and don’t know how to connect to them.

The Cards will end up with four appearances on Apple TV+, which charges $9.99 per month for access. In addition, they’ll finish with two on Roku, which exclusively streams games on Sundays. It had announced its full schedule last winter, unlike Apple, which has updated its lineup as the season has progressed.

Although there is no charge for the Roku games, grumbling has come from fans who don’t stream. That’s a shrinking and older audience that can seem easy to disregard for being behind the times — but a group that has endured all the changes in the game, many it doesn’t like, and still forms perhaps the sport’s most loyal fan bases.

Baseball on NASCAR track

Major League Baseball has cashed in with novelty acts in recent years, staging games in unique locations.

There have been a couple at the filming site for the “Field of Dreams” movie in Dyersville, Iowa; one at the Fort Bragg military facility in North Carolina; and last year a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, where the Cardinals met the Giants on tradition-laden Rickwood Field in a tribute to the Negro Leagues. There also now is a regular stop in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, during the Little League World Series, where Seattle and the New York Mets are scheduled to play on Aug. 17.

The list is set to be expanded Saturday, when the Reds and Braves tangle at Bristol Motor Speedway in the first big league game to be played in Tennessee. MLB announced this week that 85,000 tickets have been sold in the NASCAR track, with several thousand more sales expected. That would make the so-called Speedway Classic the most-attended regular-season major league contest, surpassing the record of 84,587 set in 1954 for a game in Cleveland between the then-Indians and Yankees. (The overall record is 115,300, for an exhibition game in 2008 between the Red Sox and Dodgers at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.)

Bristol Motor Speedway has a capacity of more than 146,000 for racing events and was able to accommodate 156,990 for a college football game there in 2016 (Tennessee 45, Virginia Tech 24), a record for that sport. Tickets for the baseball game, which will be played on a field set up on the track and the configuration leads to not all seats being available because of poor site lines.

Fox shows the game nationally (KTVI, Channel 2 locally), with coverage set to begin at 5 p.m. and the first pitch at 6:15 p.m. (St. Louis times). The network has Saturday night MLB telecasts throughout the season and usually has regional games, but this one will be a national presentation.

Pregame festivities include ceremonial first pitch involving Hall of Famers who spent their entire playing careers with the teams competing in the matchup. Former Braves third baseman Chipper Jones to former Reds catcher Johnny Bench.

The U.S. Navy, which celebrates its 250th birthday in October, will be recognized throughout pregame festivities including a flyover by four F/A-18 Super Hornets.

There also are to be NASCAR-style player introductions, a “victory lane” themed celebration for the winning team and a trophy presentation, and musical performances by Tim McGraw (whose father, Tug, one of the top relievers in the 1970s), Pitbull and Jake Owen.

Memphis Redbirds on TV

Hold the jokes about Cardinals fans having to endure a season of watching some minor league level starting pitching performances. But now they will be able to watch the actual minor league games, as FanDuel ������Ƶ Network is picking up five home contests of the Memphis Redbirds, the Cardinals’ top farm club, as the team’s season winds down.

The schedule begins next Thursday, and the games will appear on television as well as the FDSN streaming app. Redbirds broadcaster Alex Coil is set to provide the play-by-play. The schedule, revised from the original version:

• Aug. 7: vs. Durham, 6:45 p.m.
• Aug. 23: vs. Gwinnett, 6:35 p.m.
• Sept. 4: vs. Rochester, 6:45 p.m.
• Sept. 17: vs. St. Paul, 6:05 p.m.
• Sept. 18: vs. St. Paul, 11:05 a.m.