Fans Were Confused By The Tim McGraw & Pitbull Collab Ahead Of The MLB Speedway Classic At Bristol

MLB on Fox

The collab we didn’t know we needed…because we didn’t.

The Cincinnati Reds and the Atlanta Braves are facing off today at Bristol Motor Speedway for the first ever MLB Speedway Classic, a baseball game held in the infield of the iconic racetrack in Tennessee.

Honestly, the whole thing looks pretty insane, seeing a baseball field inside of Bristol.

https://x.com/MLB/status/1951663138073436605

But an MLB game inside a NASCAR track isn’t the only weird mashup at the game today. For the pregame concert, Tim McGraw was joined by…Pitbull, for some reason.

Now, it’s not the first collab between the two. Pitbull sampled Tim McGraw’s classic “I Like It, I Love It” in his 2024 song “Get Get Get Down,” which featured McGraw himself on the track.

And it makes sense for McGraw to perform the concert. He’s the son of former MLB pitcher Tug McGraw, who spent 19 seasons in the league with the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets.

But fans weren’t so sure that he needed to bring out Mr. Worldwide when performing “I Like It, I Love It.”

Well unfortunately for those who were forced to sit through that collaboration hoping to see some baseball afterwards, the game is currently delayed due to weather, so it’s going to be even longer before you get to see a game to wash the bad taste of that performance out of your mouth.

Of course Tim McGraw seems to have been in the headlines quite a bit lately, first drawing concern from fans last month when he was spotted with a walking cane in a photo that he posted to social media:

McGraw has recently been dealing with some debilitating back and knee injuries in recent years. He had actually just returned to the stage at the Nashville Rodeo after taking a year off from performing. McGraw had other dates on his schedule, but unfortunately had to cancel due to his recovery.

In an interview a couple of months ago, Tim McGraw explained that he had back surgery before his tour in 2024. Though he did that in hopes that it would make touring easier, things went south early in the tour, and he said his knees overcompensated trying to make up for his back pains, and they also went out on him a mere three weeks into touring.

After he finished last year’s tour, he had surgery on both of his knees, and while he was recovering from those surgeries, Tim’s back went out once again, and he had no choice but to have another surgery for that as well.

Luckily it seems like he was able to recover enough to get back on stage for the Speedway Classic. And he was also recently spotted with a new look as he headed into the studio in Nashville, sporting a completely bald head (but walking without his cane, so that’s a good sign).

Maybe the shaved head was just a nod to his future collab with Pitbull?