Cosmic Baseball will bring black lights and excitement to Indianapolis as it partners with the Indianapolis Indians in May 2025 as part of the Cosmic Takeover Tour.
Cosmic Baseball is an exhibition-style team that was formed from the Tri-City Chili Peppers, which plays in the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer league. According to founder and owner of the Tri-City Chili Peppers Chris Martin, the team was formed in 2019 and began playing after the COVID-19 pandemic. Martin said Chili Peppers games combine high-quality baseball and entertainment.
“We have players that are looking to play at the next level, have fun and compete and grow, and hopefully they do well enough where at some point they’re getting drafted and playing professional baseball,” Martin said. “So our atmosphere has always been entertainment-focused and focused on fan experience and providing an atmosphere where you don’t have to necessarily be a massive baseball fan, but you can have a great entertainment experience and enjoy time with the family and friends.”
Martin said Cosmic Baseball is separate from the Tri-City Chili Peppers and the Coastal Plain League and features exhibition games. He said the concept of playing baseball under black lights came from fan experiences from Chili Peppers games. Cosmic Baseball played for the first time this summer at Shepherd Stadium in Colonial Heights, Va. After selling out games in under 24 hours, Martin said he realized there was an opportunity to take Cosmic Baseball on tour to reach more fans.
“We honestly never thought it would blow up worldwide the way that it has,” Martin said. “The concept was always, ‘Hey, we’re just going to play at home, and if this does great and our fans like it, we’ll just keep doing it.’ And what happened was, when all the games sold out in 24 hours at home last year, we had to add more games… We had people flying in internationally coming to see it, and we just felt like if we’re going to continue to do this, we want to take it on tour and give the opportunity for everybody in different cities to have the same experience.”
Martin said one of the coolest parts of being a spectator for Cosmic Baseball games is that fans can wear UV reflective gear and the black light will make everyone on the field and stands glow. He added that there are events and experiences in between and half way through innings to keep everyone engaged the entire time.
“I think the environment would be the first one with this high energy, a lot of stimulus and music and a ton of energy,” Martin said. “It’s almost like the game is a little bit altered, in a sense.”The Cosmic Takeover Tour is visiting five cities in 2025, and will be announcing more games soon, according to the team’s Instagram. The only way to get tickets is to enter the Cosmic Lottery, and Martin said he expects those tickets to sell out within 24 hours as well, so fans should act fast.
