Cincinnati Reds vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

The plan to watch the Cincinnati Reds play at Bristol Motor Speedway started ten months in advance. The plan to watch the Reds for my second visit to Great American Ball Park started when Shohei Ohtani was scheduled to start. The game also marks my third different ballpark watching the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Seat Selection

Section 523 Row R (Upper level behind home)

With the Cincinnati Reds in contention for a Wild Card spot against the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers and the reigning Most Valuable Player Shohei Ohtani starting on the mound, great seats at a great price on SeatGeek are going to be hard to come by.

Still, this seat from the upper deck behind home is shaded for a 7 p.m. start time in July and offers a great view of the river and Kentucky.

Ballpark Food of Choice

Skyline Chili Cheese Dogs

Skyline Chili is all over Ohio and so it is fitting you would also find it at Great American Ball Park. When you do have Skyline Chili, accept that their ‘chili’ is not really chili but more of a ground beef mix. Topped with cheese on top of hot dogs, it makes for a great hot dog option for any ball game.

Game Highlights

My biggest reason for making it to this game is to watch Shohei Ohtani pitched. After spending the all of 2024 and the first season of 2025 exclusively in the designated hitter role, Ohtani is slowly being worked in a starting pitcher role. For this game, Ohtani would pitch 3 innings before getting replaced with bases loaded in the top of the 4th. (Ohtani would still continue to play as the designated hitter.)

The game remained 2-2 through the 8th inning until Spencer Steer’s 2-run triple. Steer would eventually score on a single from Will Benson to lead to a 5-2 Reds win over the defending World Champions.