Thursday night's game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, was a monumental spectacle, with the "home" Cardinals prevailing by a final score of 6-5.

This was hardly the first MLB game where the home team had to travel, though. Major League Baseball games have been periodically held at non-MLB stadiums for the better part of three decades now.

Domestically, there have been games played in Las Vegas, Honolulu, Puerto Rico, Orlando, Fort Bragg, Omaha (College World Series), Williamsport (Little League World Series), Dyersville (Field of Dreams) and now Birmingham.

There have also been international games played in Mexico, Great Britain and South Korea this season alone, plus previous games in Japan and Australia.

So, what's next on the list of unique destination games? Nothing has been announced yet for 2025, but we have a few fun ideas.

Stade De France (Paris, France)

Let's begin this list with a freebie.

As part of MLB's "World Tour" established during the latest collective bargaining agreement, there was a plan in place for games to be played in Paris in June 2025. However, that plan was scrapped this past November when MLB was unable to find a promoter.

That doesn't mean it'll never happen, though. It's likely a "delaying the inevitable" situation, perhaps with Paris throwing its hat back into the ring of hosting MLB games once it's done with the logistical chaos of hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Even though only a handful of players born in France have made it to the big leagues, Paris certainly makes sense given how well-received the London series have been.

All six games—two between the Red Sox and Yankees in 2019, two between the Cubs and Cardinals last year, two between the Mets and Phillies earlier this month—had attendance figures north of 53,000. That isn't even possible at any MLB park aside from Dodgers Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum.

Stade de France has a capacity of more than 80,000 and is the clear choice for now. But it would be exceptionally cool if they played the games at the Olympic venue being constructed right next to the Eiffel Tower.

After a few weeks of watching beach volleyball in front of a famous monument, there's going to be a thirst for a baseball game there, too.

Doubleday Field (Cooperstown, New York)

For decades, the Hall of Fame game at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown was an annual exhibition. It pitted an American League team against a National League team, typically on the same weekend as the HOF induction ceremony.

The tradition began in 1940 and lasted until 2008, when they decided it was too much of a hassle to send two teams to middle-of-nowhere New York for one game that didn't even count as a regular-season contest. Why not bring it back and make it a two-game series that counts toward the standings, though?

Ideally, it would be a series between teams represented in that year's class of inductees. Using this year as an example, a Rockies-Twins series on the same weekend that Todd Helton and Joe Mauer are going into the Hall of Fame would have been awesome.

They would need to do something about the dimensions at Doubleday Field, because 296 feet down the left-field line is quite a short porch. It would also be nice to add some capacity to a stadium that currently can't even hold 10,000 people. However, those are someone else's problems to fix.

Either way, bringing back a Hall of Fame game and making it count toward the standings would be neat.

The Sandlot (Salt Lake City, Utah OR San Fernando Valley, California)

They did the Field of Dreams games in a cornfield in Iowa in 2021 and 2022, and it was a smash hit. That first contest between the Yankees and White Sox drew higher TV ratings than any regular-season MLB game on Fox had in more than 15 years.

And Major League Baseball has yet to pull at that cinematic nostalgia thread by doing another movie-themed game?

You're killing me, Smalls.

A Bull Durham game would be the low-hanging fruit MLB could pluck, as there is already a Durham Bulls team with a regulation stadium and everything.

But if MLB could recreate The Sandlot—either where it was filmed in Salt Lake City or where it was set in Los Angeles—the ratings for that one could be downright absurd.

An all-dirt outfield might be tough to clear with the MLBPA, but how about s'mores stations around the stadium? Commemorative chewing tobacco pouches? A pool where Wendy Peffercorn ensures nobody drowns?

Bonus points if there's a beast in left-center field that devours home run balls.

Churchill Downs (Kentucky Derby)

Sports being played at venues that weren't designed for that sport has been a weird, growing trend over the past decade.

There are now several annual college football bowl games played at baseball stadiums, as well as the NHL's annual Winter Classic, which gets held outdoors at either a football or baseball stadium. That's not to mention college basketball games played on aircraft carriers.

It's about time to flip the script and play an MLB game at a non-baseball venue. Perhaps MLB could repurpose a race track into a warning track?

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway might come to mind, but do you know how laughably small a baseball field would look in that 253-acre infield? Fenway Park is contained to just 7.9 acres of land, so you could theoretically fit 32 entire Fenway Parks in there.

Churchill Downs could work, though.

A full baseball field certainly would fit within the confines of the Kentucky Derby's infield. It's just a question of whether the race track would dwarf the field to the point where the novelty of it would be lost.

If it's doable, the inaugural game ought to be between the Brewers and the Nationals—with Milwaukee's sausages and Washington's presidents running a pregame relay race around the track.

First Horizon Park (Nashville, Tennessee)

How many times in the past few years have we heard about franchises thinking about relocating and/or openly threatening to relocate to Nashville? At least the White Sox, Brewers, Reds, Rays and Orioles were all at least somewhat rumored to be considering digging up their roots and heading to Tennessee.

So, how about a prove-it series or two for Nashville to show that it can actually support an MLB franchise? That it's more than just some boogeyman that owners are citing when they're frustrated with attendance?

The Milwaukee Brewers' Triple-A affiliate already plays there (the Nashville Sounds) in a stadium that has a capacity of approximately 10,000. That's more than the Field of Dreams or Rickwood games, both of which had a seating capacity in the 8,000-8,500 range.

But throw an Atlanta Braves vs. Cincinnati Reds game there—roughly a four-hour drive for each team—and watch the secondary ticket market lose its mind.

Better yet, have an entire "We're thinking about it" neutral-site event, where four disgruntled owners send their teams to Nashville for a weekend for a round-robin tournament. One afternoon game and one evening game on each of Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The only question is whether the winner of the tournament or the loser gets the right of first refusal on Nashville's relocation proposal.

La Rinconada (Caracas, Venezuela)

This one won't happen any time soon, as Venezuela has been on the U.S. government's "do not travel" list off and on for the past decade. MLB would need some serious safety assurances before Commissioner Rob Manfred would even consider sending two teams to the 40,000-capacity stadium known as La Rinconada in Caracas.

But there eventually needs to a be an MLB game in South America, and Venezuela would make the most sense, as it has been quite the pipeline to the majors over the years.

Australia got to host a few MLB games a decade ago, and only 35 players have ever made it to the majors after being born in the Land Down Under. Twice as many players (70) born in Venezuela have appeared in at least one MLB game this season alone, including Jose Altuve, Ronald Acuña Jr., Salvador Perez, both Willson and William Contreras, Luis Arráez, Ranger Suárez and Andrés Giménez, among others.

Roughly 6 percent of all players to appear in an MLB game this season were born in Venezuela. It would be cool if MLB let some of them play a game close to their old stomping grounds—if it's ever deemed safe enough to do so.

Pick a Historic Backdrop

Maybe it's a game on the National Mall with the Washington Monument towering over the center field fence.

Perhaps there's a way to construct a makeshift field in/near the Grand Canyon without irreparably destroying any of its natural beauty.

A "Remember the Alamo" game could be intriguing.

Watching home runs fly toward Mount Rushmore would be all sorts of fascinating.

This one is less of a national landmark and more of an ambiance, but how about a midnight sun game in Alaska in late June? That would be a tough one as far as bedtime is concerned for most fans in America, but so were the Japan/Korea/Australia games.

Long story short, a destination game where the backdrop is a major part of the viewing experience would be great.

The Mount Rushmore idea is arguably most appealing because—similar to the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa—it would be in an area of the continental U.S. that is presently a wasteland as far as professional sports are concerned. The closest Big Four city to Mount Rushmore is Denver, and that's a six-hour drive on a good day.

Assuming the whole point of these unique destination games is to find/cultivate new pockets of MLB fans, it only makes sense to venture out to a scenic area of the country otherwise untapped for fandom.

BC Place (Vancouver, Canada)

A return to Olympic Stadium in Montreal could be good, as Montreal is always one of the first cities mentioned whenever MLB expansion comes up.

But MLB in Montreal has been done before, and it's beyond time for the western half of Canada to get a taste of the action.

The Seattle Mariners should be one of the teams for this theoretical international affair. It's not even a 150-mile drive from T-Mobile Park to BC Place, so there would be plenty of M's faithful making the trek.

What would really make it a hit is if it's the Mariners against the Blue Jays.

Toronto already has a high-A affiliate in Vancouver (the Canadians), and it has quite a footprint in Vancouver of fans who support Canada's lone MLB team.

One would imagine there's a decent number of Blue Jays fans living in British Columbia who have never made the nearly 3,000-mile journey—or, excusez-moi, the more-than-4,000-kilometer journey—to Rogers Centre and would love to see the team in person for once.